Strategies to increase food production Land colonisation, land reform and commercialisation

What is our focus this lesson? Unscramble the words… Starter What is our focus this lesson? Unscramble the words… nlad loocnisatnio ldna mrrfoe seracomcialimtion Land colonisation Land reform Commercialisation

Learning Outcomes To understand how land colonisation, land reform and commercialisation are strategies to increase food supply. To explore land reform in Zimbabwe and evaluate how successful it has been.

Land colonisation Bringing land into production that has not previously been used or expanding areas of land in production. Subsistence or commercial reasons. Methods involve: extending existing areas by chopping down forest draining marshes irrigating areas that are naturally too dry building terraces on steep hillsides Exploiting land on a large scale. New land for subsistence farmers. Grow crops for domestic consumption or to export for foreign earnings. Aim to increase food supply.

Example: Amazon Basin, Brazil In 1970s large areas of Amazon rainforest were cleared for agriculture. Recent deforestation for pasture and soybean farming. Pasture is inexpensive as it requires a small, unskilled workforce. Government supports clearing forest for soybean farming – 90 millions tonnes expected in 2014. Grains account for a third of the country’s GDP. Increasing cultivation to meet growing population. By government, for landless people. Huge devastation to rainforest. World’s top producer of soybeans. What are the issues of land colonisation in Brazil?

Intensifying production to meet demand from commercial markets. Commercialisation Intensifying production to meet demand from commercial markets. More TNCs and supermarkets in developed countries are sourcing food products from less developed countries. Small farmers are drawn into contracts and increase their output through intensification. Often leads to a decline in the production of staple foods for local communities.

Example: Kenya Many of our fresh vegetables from supermarkets are produced in Kenya. Crops include summer salads, mange tout, baby sweetcorn, tenderstem broccoli and courgettes. Floriculture is a thriving industry in Kenya – 1.6% of GDP. Kenya is the lead exporter of cut roses. In the UK they are sold mainly in supermarkets. Roses account for 56% of exported flowers.

Land reform The redistribution of land to help overcome some inefficiencies in the use of land and labour. Expropriation of large estates and redistribute land to individual farmers, landless labourers or communal groups. Consolidation of small, fragmented farms. Increasing security of tenure for the farmer. New land colonisation projects. Transferring land to state ownership. The success of these methods has been mixed – not al have increased food production.

Example: Zimbabwe Read the information on the history of land reform in Zimbabwe. Highlight key information and use this to complete the tasks below. Create a timeline of land issues in Zimbabwe, using the template provided. Answer the questions: What was the system of ownership before the land reforms? What was the outcome of the land reforms?