Problem of food shortage

Problem of food shortage Evaluation of agricultural strategies against food crisis One of the major problems in recent years which is really controversial among countries in the world is the problem of facing food shortage especially in developing countries. This problem is due to some main reasons: high food prices, scarcity of food. These reasons which are mentioned have some serious effects on people health and life. For example different kinds of diseases or malnutrition are really significant because of lack of food. Generally governors name this critical situation food crisis. Different countries after some discussions decided to find a practical and real solution to rescue their people. There are some common strategies such as money charity, food aid, using new technologies in agriculture or usage of Genetically modified food which is a new technology which can cause producing better and more food. In this essay we are discussing about agricultural solutions related to the problem of food crisis and the evaluation of this method in some developing countries. Agricultural improvement has some parts to discuss, for instance irrigation methods and using fertilizers technology, but we are focusing on the effect of fertilizers. ( George Charles Lowrison, 1989) In general Fertilizers are compounds which are giving to plants to improve their growth and crops quality. Some of them can be absorbed by the root of the plants and the others can be sprayed. These components can be divided in two main groups organic and chemical (Inorganic) compounds. For instance the manure of animals is the good examples of organic fertilizers and Nitrogen, Phosphorus or Potassium compounds are inorganic chemicals. Some of them are soluble and some of them are insoluble. Most fertilizers which are soluble in water can be solved in soil water and absorb by the root of the plant. In this process fertilizer is not the only factor for growth, the plant needs sunlight, water, soil and different gases from the earth to start a process that Biologist name it growth and because of that the plant will grow. Growth is a general word but, scientist defines growth as a multiplication and also increasing the plant cell size. (Lagried, Bockman andKaarstad, 1999) During the last two decades some countries face some natural disasters such as drought, flood or sudden climate change which are causing many problems in agriculture area. Because of climate change some crops which needed specific situation to grow could not grow, therefore a huge decrease in the amount of crops were seen. And also flood due to climate change caused destroying many farms which were under cultivation. Due to this problems it can be seen a significant food shortage. As a result some governments decided to find new strategies in terms of agriculture. The agriculture improvement has its own categories in response of food crisis. Different arguments have been presented in the recent years. Using fertilizers and methods of irrigation or preserving soil from erosion are some main methods. Gary Toenniessen, director of food security at the Rockefeller Foundation believes that using fertilizer can affect the amount of nutrients in soil, therefore the amount of crops will incr ease significantly especially in dry regions.(Gray Toennessen,Accessed date: Dec 2009) The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements released a report and argued against chemical fertilizers on the grounds that they can have bad effect on ecological cycles and creating a dependence on chemicals.. Agricultural experts and many policy makers had an argument about using fertilizers and its effect on the amount of food. Based on their arguments they believe that using fertilizers in African countries will decrease famine among them. According to Bill Doyle, the CEO of Saskatchewan-based Potash Corp, using fertilizers for increasing yields against food crisis could be really useful. He emphasized that using the combination of three main fertilizers which are potassium, Nitrogen and Phosphorus can boost the crop yield by as much as 60%. Because of preventing people from famine the world can not feed hungry people without the application of fertilizers in their farms. He be lieves the world must increase the speed of using these substances to feed about eighty million people around the world. Although overuse of fertilizers has some environmental damages. For instance some serious problems will occur in ground water and it will pollute the rivers. The other effects which the fertilizer can have are in decreasing the soil water therefore it causes scarcity of water to irrigate the farms. (Doyle, 2009). Dr Norman Borlaug who is an agriculturalist and the winner of Nobel Pease prize has some ideas about using fertilizers in the recent years. As far as doctor Norman Borlaug concerned hunger often go hand-in-hand. He thinks one of the sufficient compounds which is really important against this crisis is fertilizer. It can have a dramatic increase in the amount of crops. In each year the world population grows by eighty million, therefore the number of consumers will increase. As a result these people need food and crops to live individually. Currently the u sage of grains is really low. In the last decade the usage of seeds has grown among people and its not really easy to provide enough food for people.Dr Norman ((If the farmers stopped growing food today, we would only have enough grains in the worlds storage bins to feed the worlds population for 58 days)). (Dr Norman, 2008) The arguments of this expert person shows feeding 6.6 billion people are really hard and it seems a good idea to use these chemicals. In recent years fertilizers are responsible for between forty and sixty percent of food production. These substances improve our soils in each harvest and it causes a kind of promotion in quality and quantity of food. Because of using the elements in the soil the amount of necessary compounds in the soil will decrease each year, therefore fertilizers are supplying the sufficient nutrients in soil to increase the amount and quality of the crops. Based on research in United Nation Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) agricultural products will be sixty percent higher in the year 2030 in comparison to the current year. The agricultural data over the past fifty years shows that the total world grain production such as corn,oats,wheat and rice increase 0.905 billion metric tons in the year 1965 to 2.091 billion metric tons in 2007. This dramatic increase in world grain production is because of 122 percent increase in crop yield. One of the countries that have a project against its food crisis is Kenya. It is situated in east Africa and situated near Indian ocean. This country is the forty seventh largest country in the world with the population of about 38 million people. (Source: World Bank).Unfortunately this country face many problems in the recent years, but one of the major problems is the food shortage. Many projects have been started against this problem; however researching about agricultural strategies is really significant. One of the projects which was started in January 2003 and still is on going is fertilizers supply as a cure for famine. The agriculturalist in this country use a kind of chemical fertilizers namely Mavuno.. A period of five year drought cause a serious famine for decades. members of cooperating farmer groups in Trans-Nzioia district have increased their maize yields from 8 to 22 bags per acre. In Embu and Kirinyaga districts, farmers harvested more yields it reached from 5 to 20 bags per acre. Approximately 10 bags on average are required to achieve household food security. This project has illustrated that demand for new improved fertilizers the provision of small bags of fertilizers and seeds enabled even the poorest farmers to achieve incremental gains in food and income over a few seasons. Many farmers purchasing 1kg bags quickly graduate to larger amounts. As a result fertilizer supply in this country would be really useful against food crisis. One of the developing countries in Africa continent is Ethiopia. This country is situated in northwest of Africa with the population of 78 million. The staple food in Ethiopia are oil seeds and cereals. People are suffering from famine and there is no proportion between the food demand and supply. Consequently these people are suffering from malnutrition and many diseases. In the year 2002 environmental policy of Ethiopia made some rules to protect the environment and also increase the amount of food in this re gion. They used chemical fertilizers in smallholder agriculture had a great effect on the quality and quantity of food. After this experience they tried these chemicals in larger farms and again they reached to the same results in their crops especially Cotton. Because of starvation problem in Ethiopia a Tigray project started in 1996 to fight this disaster and rescue their people. The project showed an increase in the amount of yields after some years. One of the crops which had a good result after fertilizer treatment was pea. In general fertilizers have a major role in better and more crops in this country. As discussed in the previous paragraphs, it seems starvation is one of the critical situations in the current world and this problem lead people to become ill and malnutrient. Consequently scientists, agriculturalist, and governments decided to find a long term solution to increase their yields. Finally after some experiences and arguments they reached to the common idea about using specific compounds which are fertilizers to increase the food to feed their people and rescue them. Generally fertilizers can greatly increase productivity in the current century. After some researches about this project I believe in this idea that using these types of chemicals would be greatly effective on food production and it could be a reasonable solution against famine disaster in developing countries. References: George Charles Lowrison, 1989, Fertilizer Technology, Library of congress, Simon and Schuster international publication Lagried, Bockman andKaarstad, 1999, Agriculture Fertilizers the environment, Library of congress, CABI Publication www. countrystudies.us/ethinews. www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/debates//2440975.stm http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/499[accessed date: Dec2009] http://www.scidev.net/en/news/fertilisers-key-to-food-crisis-in-africa-says-s.html)[Accessed date: Dec2009] http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf88155949.tip.html))[Accessed date: Dec2009] http://matadorpulse.com/do-we-need-industrial-fertilizers-to-weather-the-food-crisis/nt grow and produce crops. [Accessed date: Dec2009] http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/62763[Accessed date: Dec2009] http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64312881piPK=64302848theSitePK=40941Projectid=P113002[Accessed date: Dec2009] http://whttp://en.allexperts.com/q/Fertilizer-717/advantages-disadvantages-using-fertilizers.htmww.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-fertilizers-harm-earth[Accessed date: Dec2009] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=subsidized-fertilizer-africa[Accessed date: Dec2009] http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/lh014[accessed date; Dec2009] www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-10/970846845.Bt.r.html[Accessed date: Dec2009] www.cropfile.com/news[Accessed date: Dec 2009] www.tfi.org/factsandstat[Accessed date: Dec 2009] www.rssww.sciencedev.net[Accessed date: Dec2009] www.earthwire.org/uk[Accessed date: Dec2009] www.mail.saasta.ac.za[Accessed date: Dec 2009]

Managing Financial Resources and Decision

Every business needs four major types of resources classified in two ways: men, money, machine and material or land, labor, capital and enterprise. As it can be seen the financial resources are compulsory, every business having allocated a department that manages this resource (the Finance Department) and a person that is in charge of its activities (the Finance Manager). Financial resources can be provided by a range of sources. This range depends on the type of the business, which can be classified as sole traders, partnerships and companies (private or public).Financial resources are in turn classified considering the period of time when they are available (short, medium and long term), and the origin environment (internal or external). The sources available for a sole trader are personal capital, retained profits, sale of assets, actions of hire purchase, of sale and lease back, loans and credit lanes from banks of informal loans (borrowings) from friends, acquaintances. Addition ally, for the other types, finance can come from admission of new partners in the business, bank overdrafts, venture capital and share capital.For London Woods ltd the financial resources of the private sector company are represented by the sale of the furniture produced (the selling price for a chair in 2013 is 45 pounds, while monthly sales vary between 100 and 120). A long-term loan already borrowed according to the income statement for 2011 and 2012 is another financial source of cash. But in contract with ordinary shares generated for investors, which are the permanent capital of the company, the loan will be integral returned after several years, during which is cost is estimated at a 12% interest rate.A recent available source are the 3000 pounds made available for a brand manager in the Latin America, while the production and the revenues from that sales are a potential source of liquidity. 1. 2 Before they are chosen, sources of finance must be evaluated after considering t he following aspects relates to the business itself or the source: what amount of money is necessary and in what time, what is the cost of the source (interest rates, dividends etc.), the risk involved, the duration of the contract (between company and supplier of finance), the control of the business over the source or aver the ability to pay back finance received and the gearing ratio of the company (the relationship between what is owns and what is owes).For example, long-term loans and ordinary shares can generate a greater amount of capital than personal savings or the sale of assets. But while the company must return in time the amount borrowed from a bank it can have as permanent capital the money invested by shareholders.Also, while the interest rate is fixed and included in every payment, dividends are paid only when the company generates profit. Thus, the company has more control over finance if is source are investments rather than bank loans. 1. 3 The mentioned sources b ring simultaneous benefits and disadvantages for the business organization. Personal savings are interest free, do not need to be returned necessarily at a certain time, no collateral part is involved and no paperwork is required, but it cannot provide large amounts and can interfere unexpectedly with cash flow if money is demanded before due time.Retained profit is the company’s own revenue which does not need to be returned or to pay interest, debt does not increase and its future allocation can remain confidential. On the other hand, retained profits are available for developed, growing business and not for starting or bad-performing businesses. Finance resulted from selling assets is similar: the business finances itself with possible large amounts, only that those assets will not generate profit from the selling point, and it can be expensive later on, if it needs to be purchased.Ordinary shares are advantageous because they can raise large amounts of permanent capital f or which dividends are paid only the company is profitable, but they incur issuing costs and the amount of capital cannot be minimized later. Preference shares do not give the right of decision through vote and they require a fixed profit in return, even if the company makes a smaller profit or even a loss. Similarly debentures do not allow the right to vote, are redeemed when surplus profit is obtained, if not payment of interest rate must be done at a fixed date.These features apply to loans, bank overdrafts. The hire purchase method has the advantage that the company can make use of the asset before it pays for it but probably will be pay more for it than its value. Venture capital is beneficial because investors are highly interested in the business’s success over a period; investors share profits and may wish to influence strategic decisions. Discounts assure a quick receive of money but debt is collected by the client company itself and thus resources are wasted in debt collection.2. 1 Being vital for the business’s operations, financial resources (the life blood of business) have attached a certain cost: sometimes a price paid for their availability and most certainly an opportunity cost in the form if the second best way in which they could have been allocated. Personal savings, bank loans, overdrafts, debentures, venture capital, factoring, invoice discounting require the payment of an interest rate, in addition to the amount lend to the business.Retained profits have attached the opportunity cost: depending on the size of it, profits can be allocated to many departments: they can be invested in research and development, in the extension of fixed assets for the increase of production, in more advertising, can be used in the employed of experts, skilled people. The cost of selling assets is that of the revenue from the goods that would have been produced, but also the difference in the selling price and the purchase price.Apart from the d ividends paid in return, issuing ordinary shares determines administrative costs with the stock exchange listing fee, printing, distribution and advertising fee. The cost in hire purchase actions and leases is the price that the company pays for the item and the cost of ownership over it, since even if the organization paid 90% for the item, it is still owned by the leasing company. Grants are financial resource that does not require any fee.Planning is usually regarded as one of the first major steps (among generating ideas, assessing feasibility, collecting external information) that needs to be developed in concern with doing a business, a project, presentation etc. As money is a core resource for the business so is financial planning. This stage within a business it used in order to determine over a period of time how will a variety of resources be allocated in order to have both effective and efficient results. Or, it can be used to assess how well the available resources were used in a previous period of time (a quarter, half year, a year).Financial planning has in addition a few key benefits. It is efficient because it takes in consideration future needs: a business must always be aware of next activities from the â€Å"to do† list. Considering next tasks is helpful in being on time: organizations have to prepare now, in advance, what is required later so it do not miss opportunities. This gives assurance to stakeholders that the company is well-managed and creates a pleasant working environment, where lower levels employees know very well what to do.It helps businesses to compare the different alternatives between resource allocation in order to perform activities in which they have a smaller opportunity cost. Planning constantly also provides the opportunity to monitor, control activities and be financially sustainable for the organization and its stakeholders. 2. 3 The decision making process is represented by information needs required by dec ision makers. The decision makers or the organization are the stakeholders that have an interest in respect with the activity of the organization. They are divided between internal and external parties.The internal parties are the shareholders and their information need is to know the risk implied by their investment or the return that can generate in order to sell shares or to buy and if the company is able to pay dividends. Employees, another important category wants to know is the business is well-performing in order to deduce the stability, the prospective, and any remuneration and benefits that their current vacancy within the company offers. Suppliers are interested to know if in short term the business as able to pay for the goods supplied.Lenders, an important category of external stakeholders, need the same information, but for the long term. Continuation of operations is also a concern of customers, especially if they have a dependence on the company’s activities. G overnments and regulators are interest in how the business is caring operations in order to compare it with regulation and law, so that the organization is operating legally. The public, a general external category of stakeholders is interested in the performance of the business for the need of economic stability and available jobs.2. 4 In the study case of London Woods there are several sources of finance with impact in the financial statements (the profit and loss account, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement). A major source of the finance is the firm’s production of furniture which if it is sold is incurred in the profit and loss account, while the remaining stock is stated as a current asset on the balance sheet. Another source of finance proposed for the business, as Mathew claims, is two machines that will generate more revenue but are going to cost 4 million pounds.The prices paid will be incurred in the expenses section in the income statement and the value of the two machines will be included under the asset’s column in the balance sheet. The machines would have to be bought by first taking a loan with an interest rate of 12%, which will have to be stated under expenses in the income statement, while the loan must be declared in the long-term liabilities section in the balance sheet. According to the profit and loss account a current source of finance is the shareholders capital, a current loan which costs the business 550 (interest rate) and the debtors, which are customers of the organization.The company does not have to buy the machine B, as the results are negative and the company does not have enough money. 4. 1. Finance is used to create before or at the end of time periods financial statements that help in planning activities, in recording performance and in assessing the current state of the business. Finance is used to create three types of financial statements. The profit and loss account assesses if past activity us ed effectively the allocated resources. The balance sheet is a summary about the assets, liabilities and liquidities of a business at the end of a business term.Finance also generates information about sales, purchases and labor costs. All this information can be further used in setting budgets for next business terms. Budgets can be used to determine future quantity and price of sales, production, materials, labor, manufacturing overhead, selling and administrative costs and in the end the final cash budget. Based on previous information, when they are creating budgets managers can take measures that reduce costs, increase profits, improve work efficiency or increase productivity and can find information like when to make new purchases of machinery, materials etc. 4. 2.Financial statements do not differ substantially of those of a sole trader as they rely on the same accounting principles. Both balance sheets of both companies will be calculated using the simple formula according w hich equity equals assets minus liabilities. The financial statements of the fictional sole trader Olivia Boulton1 and those of The Coca-Cola Company2, registered in the USA are relevant in this way. Although they use the same principles, the statements of the two operators are slightly different in content. Olivia Boulton, as a sole trader runs a small business (she sells cookware goods designed in Italy).Profits are usually small and re-invested in the business, but the possibilities for expansion are limited. Sole traders are the owners of the business who can run it independently and do not involve other in decision making. A sole trader takes the risk of compensating liabilities with his own goods. In comparison, The Coca-Cola Company a public limited company owned by anonymous shareholders, which generated large profits and pays dividends and caries operations globally. The financial statements of Olivia Boulton contain the traditional elements of a profit and loss account and of a balance sheet.The profit and loss account which states the net profit incurred in the period, calculated by eliminating expenses from income or gross profit, starts with the estimation of sales, purchases and stock in order to determine the gross profit. The expenses include liabilities regarding the interest rate of a loan, wages plus other administrative expenses (rent, travelling). The balance sheet has a simple format too. The fixed assets are only represented by the premises and the shop fittings, current assets include stock, debtors, bank and cash, while on the liability column the only type of tax incurred is the VAT (value added tax).In the case of Coca-Cola the statements look different. The cost of goods sold is directly stated as well are the selling, general and administrative expenses. The major difference is the emphasis of the tax incurred and the dividends paid (basic net income per share, diluted net income per share, and dividend per share). The balance shee t contains other elements too. A great amount of the company’s assets are represented by investments, trademark with indefinite lives, goodwill, intangible assets, bottler’s franchise rights with indefinite lives. Under the liability column the amount owned for loans long-term debts are much higher.After taking liabilities, the company’s equity is much more elaborated and allocated to multiple purposes: a part is reinvested, a part is allocated to shareowners, another one to non controlling interests, while other incurred as capital surplus. 4. 3 a) Net profit margin: Op * 100 : sales revenue: 370*100/4990 =7. 4 b) Current ratio current assets/current liabilities: 1540/790 = 1. 9 c) Quick ratio current assets – current stock/current liabilities: 1540-680/790 =860/790=1. 08 d) ROCE for year 2012: 370*100/1850=20% ROCE for year 2011: 510*100/1900=26. 8% e) Assets turnover ratio: 4990/1850=2. 69; f) Debt/Equity ratio: 550/1850=0. 29

Intrinsic Motivation and Team Communication Essay

The greatest concern of the companies after recession is how to bring out the best in the employees with less funds and poor market response. Since the market is demanding more for less, companies are now forced to sell products at reduced margins. This state of affairs shows that the proverbial employee engagement policy through extrinsic rewards cannot be implemented under such situation. Moreover, the sales graph is getting down on one hand, while the competition is getting stiffer. Therefore, the best (and perhaps only) option lying before the companies is to adopt the intrinsic motivation policy, which does not involve monetary reward. However, it is always tough to break away from the convention, since the application of extrinsic rewards to engage the employees has become commonplace. Yet there is hope, if the findings of the researchers regarding the mechanism of motivation have anything to go by. The Guiding Light Even in 1985, researchers like Deci and Ryan (1985) used attribution theory and suggested that humans constantly reassess the reasons for their behavior besides others. Before that, Lepper et al. (1973) had observed that extrinsic reward (money) acts as a tool for reinforcement, which actually generates two effects for the management, like gaining control over activity or fastening the process, and two, the backlash effect in absence of reinforcement. The example below would explain it better: A group or an individual gets a reward of x amount of money for a period y, where x+y=m, m being the increased rate of production. Before that, the situation was y=z where production was z. Now in the absence of reinforcement and with the influence of attribution theory, the situation would stand like y-x = n, where n < z. This clearly goes against the basic reason for motivating the employees, i. e. , to enhance the profit of the organization. This also shows that something is missing, which could have played catalyst in between, and that something is ‘love for work’. The modern researchers have picked up the issue right from here. â€Å"Engagement occurs when an employee connects emotionally with his work,† says Paul Glen (2007), thereby underpinning the efficacy of intrinsic reward in employee engagement, since it aims to emotionally engage the workers. The Solution Yet it is tough to overtly implement intrinsic reward policy by issuing heaps of â€Å"well-done† certificates, as the employees may not adapt to this sudden shift of reward policy, especially when even a penny counts after recession. It is where the strategy of fostering team communication can come in handy, which is also backed by â€Å"Expectancy Value Theory† of Martin Fishbein (Expectancy, 2004), where he observed that â€Å"people mold themselves to the world in accordance with their expectations/beliefs and evaluations. † An effective team communication does that much-needed job – it converts the employee expectation from personal gain to team-gain, and team-gain becomes possible only when the individual worker meets the expectation of other team-members. This process manifests through both intra-team communication and inter-team communication, which generates high-degree of intrinsic motivation among team members that automatically creates an emotional bondage with their work. Consequently, members of the team become aware of the roles of each member and try to finish individual assignments in time to meet the expectation of the team members. Upon doing so, they enjoy job satisfaction on many accounts – as fulfilling a team of colleagues’ expectation raises the level of mutual trust, self-confidence and individual relationship. These are the elements of intrinsic motivation, which rules over money. And what comes out as the by-product? Company benefit, of course! References Expectancy Value Theory. (2004). Web document. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from http://www. tcw. utwente. nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Public%20Rela tions%2C%20Advertising%2C%20Marketing%20and%20Consumer%20Behavio r/Expectancy_Value_Theory. doc/ Glen, P. (2007). You can’t outsource retention. Computerworld, July 16, 2007.

Leadership Styles (BUS660- Ashford University) Essay examples

LEADERSHIP STYLE 1 Leadership Style BUS660: Contemporary Issues in Organizational Leadership September 8, 2013 Ashford University LEADERSHIP STYLE 2 There are many definitions for the term leadership. This term have different meanings to each individual. Leadership is defined as a complex phenomenon involving the leader, the followers, and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett Curphy, 2012). Leadership is a quality that one can gain through employment experience and/or through education and can also be gained through mentorship. There are many different leadership styles that a leader may fall under. Each type of leadership style has its own uniqueness that makes the leader fall under that particular†¦show more content†¦The military often implement this type of leadership style. The military is considered to use this type of leadership style because the leaders often have to make decisions quickly for their troops. Charismatic Leadership Having a charismatic leadership style can most often resemble and transformational leadership style. This type of leadership resembles the transformational leadership style because these leaders tend to inspire their team (www.mindtools.com). These types of leaders are enthusiastic and energetic. They like to encourage their team members and encourage them to move forward. In contrast to an autocratic leadership, they allow their staff and team members to provide suggestions and let their voices be heard. Unlike an autocratic LEADERSHIP STYLE 4 leader, charismatic leader team members would show up to work all the time and would have little to no turnover rate. One downside of having a charismatic leader is that they can believe in themselves more than they believe in their team (www.mindtools.com). A charismatic leader might believe that she can do no wrong, while carrying great responsibilities. An effective leadership is the extent to which a leader continually and progressively leading and directing his/her followers to the agreed destination which is defined by the whole group (Bhati, Matilo, Shaikh, and Hashmi, 2012). Democratic/Participative Leadership In a democratic leadership, the leader makes the final decision while