Ensuring water and food security in a developing Sub-Saharan Africa
2012
Thyrring, Jakob
Sub-Saharan Africa is changing. Population growth and climate changes have affected food and water available. This, and the expanding urbanisation have put further pressure on food and water security, in a region classified as one of the worlds poorest. Long draught and intense heavy rainfall destroys crops while urbanization leaves more people to be fed and less to produce. Much effort has been put in optimizing agricultural production; restore soil fecundity, and farming efficiency. However, increased agricultural production is not enough to improve and ensure proper food security in the developing countries. More than 50 % of the fruits and vegetables produced those regions are lost during transport. Postharvest handling is of central importance as urbanization and a globalization have changed the world market. Various techniques have been developed to minimize food losses during transportation. However, traditional methods have disadvantages and weaknesses and alternatives are much needed. This paper describes the potential of the ecological approaches. It describes the potential of one ecological and sustainable technique known as Biological control. The method is already widely used in farming practices around the world. The paper is especially focused on the importance of postharvest handling and it outlines the nature of problems associated with postharvest food losses, the causes of losses, and describes the most common methods used today to reduce postharvest loss, and the potential of biological control.
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