Food security in space and time (FOODSAT)
| Graduate student | not applicable |
| Promotors | not applicable |
| Co-promotors | not applicable |
| Partner | not applicable |
| Timeline | September 2004 - September 2008 |
| Sources of funding | not applicable |
Principal Investigator
Dr. Ir. C.A.J.M. (Kees) de Bie (e-mail: debie@itc.nl)
Our rationale
Poster: FoodSat - Foodsat Security in Space and Time
Population growth is leading to increasing demands for food and hence claiming more land for food production. This process has thrown many developing countries into a poverty trap characterized by expansion of agriculture into marginal lands, land degradation and declining yields. Programmes or projects that address these issues require timely and reliable (spatial) information on:
- Type and quality of available land resources.
- Management, productivity and sustainability of current and alternative agricultural land use systems.
- Effects of interventions and socio-economic conditions on land use and land cover modifications and conversions.
- Actual and anticipated (future) food demand and supply situations.
The main objective of the FoodSat research is to support demand-driven integrated approaches that:
- Provide up-to-date spatial information for food security policies for different regional situations.
- Enable assessment of food security in actual and anticipated (future) food demand and supply situations in space and time.
- Take into account interactions between crops, livestock and agro-forestry as means of food production.
- Address issues of sustainable production.
The innovativeness of the research lies in (i) the demand-driven integration of RS, GIS and modelling tools and (ii) the integration of different food production systems (food crops, livestock and agro-forestry) into a conception model to predict food situations in space and time as information for food security policies.
The research is partitioned conceptually in four methodological issues.
Our main research question
How to strengthen a demand-driven approach that provides, up-to-date spatial information for food security policies for different regional situations, using contemporary and new RS/GIS tools?
Our main research objectives
Provide timely information for food security policies by improving the quality and efficiency of geo-spatial information technologies.
Improve, develop and test methods to calculate/model the performance of different production systems in space and time as a function of RS-data and crop simulation models.
Our research approach
This research proposal is based on a systems approach that uses up-to-date methods and tools for the assessment of food production activities and their interactions in time and space. The overall aim of this approach is to provide information on (i) long-term food security taking into account the biophysical sustainability of agricultural land use systems and (ii) short term food security.
Many staff members involved in natural resource management (NRM) at ITC have experiences in studying food security issues using a systems approach. Their knowledge is incorporated in NRM courses and has been applied in several projects. However, many options exist to further strengthen and update the approach through research. Possibilities to strengthen the approach are promising by further studies on:
- Crop growth modelling
- Regionalization of geo-informatics data
- Assessment of food production alternatives and scenario development
- Production of land use information
Interactions between food production activities
Food crops are generally considered the most important components of human food security systems. Spatial modelling of crop production, assessment of the growing season quality based on RS data and prediction of weather conditions based on historical weather patterns can contribute to reliability predictions of attainable yields. However food production does not consist of crops only. In many tropical countries, there is an increasing per capita demand for livestock products due to population growth and changes in dietary habits. Crop and livestock systems are usually interacting. The effects of the interactions can be positive (e.g., livestock is producing manure for crops and draught power, cropland offers the possibility for stubble grazing after harvesting) or negative (e.g. reclamation of good rangelands for crops and competition of crops and animals for land and water, resulting in conflicts between pastoralists and farmers). In addition, in many developing countries the use of trees in crop and livestock production systems is becoming more and more a common practice with the multiple aims to optimize positive and minimize negative interactions. Such mixed systems are likely to obtain a higher and more diverse total production and are less vulnerable to climatic variability. They are likely to reduce erosion and contribute positively in the struggle against deforestation.
From the above it is obvious that one cannot study one food production system without considering others. In addition, the research will assess the extent and degree of land degradation on food production. Degradation of land affects crop yields and grassland productivity. If land degradation plays a major role in the dynamics of land use of the developing countries, future food security scenarios have to take this into account. Furthermore, interactions between crop, livestock or agro-forestry systems should also be taken into account when considering sustainability of food production.
For food security, problems and objectives of stakeholders and the socio-economic context are intrinsic and steering factors. These driving forces determine how natural resources are managed and therefore play an important role in maintaining sustainability.
Work packages
The defined Work Packages (WPs):
- Improved Agricultural Land Use Mapping Techniques
- Area stratification using vegetation phenology and agricultural crop calendars
- Mapping and de-aggregating tabular land use statistics using NDVI time series and GIS - Modeling Salt Movement in the Soil and its Influence on Yield
- Integrated Agricultural and Rangelands Management
- Inferring Land Surface and Climate Parameters from Remotely Sensed Imagery and Prediction Models for Food Security Modelling. part 1, part 2, part 3
- Object Oriented Approaches for Land Use Mapping.
Contributors
| Contributors | Work Package(s) |
|---|---|
| Dr. C.A.J.M. de Bie (Principle Investigator) | 1,3 |
| Prof. E.M.A.Smaling | 3 |
| Mr. V. Venus | 4 |
| Mr. C. Bronsveld | 5 |
| Dr. P.E. van Laake | 4 |
| Dr. A. Farshad | 2 |
| Dr. A.S.M. Gieske | 4 |
| Dr. Uday Bhaskar Nidumolu | 1 |
| Prof. H. van Keulen | All |
Milestones
| Year | Journal Papers | PhD Thesis | Conference Papers | Book Reviews | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 2005 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2006 (prelim) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
PowerPoint presentation: Highlights 2004
Papers by FoodSat researchers (2004-present)
JP=Journal Paper; Th=PhD Thesis; Cf=Conference Paper; Rev=Book Review)
(the Workpackage to which the paper belongs is indicated)
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