Ashworth1

Shiloh Ashworth

Professor Watkins

MWF 11:30

22 February 2017

Urbanization

Between 2007 and 2050 the world population is projected to increase from 6.7 billion to

9.2 billion, and most of this growth will occur in urban areas of less developed countries

according to the population census provided by the United Nations (par 3). The urban areas of

the world are expected to take up all of the population growth for the next four decades, and at

the same time drawing in the rural areas. As the cities expand main agricultural land will be

turned into suburban neighborhoods. However, there are millions of people that are facing

malnutrition and undernutrition today which can be related to low income. In the future,

agriculture will be tested to meet the demands of a population that is projected to grow and

urbanize.

In the 1995 US Department of Agriculture Current Population Survey, food insecurity

was defined as limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally acceptable or safe foods. Food

is normally the most expensive category of the budget in the lower and middle class family

household Kennedy (par 25). Poor- households will spend up to 70% of their income on basic

foods, buying 90 to100% of their household food. As a result, poor urban households are more

vulnerable to food price increases (Cohen and Garrett, 2010). Wealthier households bought

higher quality meats, more fish and seafood, more fruit and vegetables, and more convenience

foods. Households in the urban area are more dependent on food purchase, which, if they have

1
 Ashworth2

enough buying power, can lead to a more diverse diet and higher reliance on fast foods and ready

to make food.

Urbanization is also associated with dietary shifts towards more processed and pre

prepared foods, with reduced physical activity in part in response to long working hours and, for

a proportion of the urban population. Dry food prices that have a stable shelf life are generally

less expensive than perishable meats or fresh produce. It is an expected role for the supermarkets

to produce more food sales and bring changes to the food chain. There will be rising demands for

meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and luxury foods, and this implies more energy intensive

production and, for many nations, more imports (de Haen 2003).

There is a strong connection between urbanization and the economic growth. Several of

the world's poorest nations remain among the least urbanized nation, such as several cities in the

sub-Saharan African countries, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean where access to food is

limited. Although rapid urban growth is often seen as a problem, the countries that have become

most urbanized in the past fifty years are also those with the best economic performance.

Urbanization will impact agriculture.

Today, Agriculture generates 2 to 3 percent of global value added and provides the

support for about one third of the world's labor force. There is an important proportion of

industry and services that are related to the production, processing, distribution and sale of food,

and other agricultural products. In addition, the figure might be higher if the value of food

produced by rural and urban residents for their own consumption is taken into view.

(Satterthwaite, 2007)

2
 Ashworth3

Meanwhile, a larger problem facing the human population today is malnutrition and the

body requires over 40 essential nutrients to function properly. Under nutrition occurs when a

person consumes a diet that does not meet the necessary requirements for the amount of essential

nutrients. People in North America are overweight and malnourished because they live off of

processed foods. When you eat preserved foods, your body can not break them down enough to

use the nutrients. Mood disorders can also be related to people overly eating processed foods

because they are missing the vitamin Omega 3s that is needed for proper brain function.

Finally, the urbanization population is expanding rapidly and so is the number of large

cities. There is no solution to sustainably feeding 9 billion people because there are challenges

with food production.