Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The politics of global food security

Recently, Inside Story, an Aljazeera program looked into how food security will change with climate change. It discusses an UN as well as a CGIAR report that predict that staple food production will decrease in many developing countries as a result of climate change.
The discussions suggests,that politics plays a key role in promoting new more climate resistant crops could allows to slower the trend of decreasing staple food production. Also land grabbing and speculation on food could play a key role in high staple food price and should be regulated to reverse the trend.

Have a look at this interesting program, that includes an interview from my former colleague at ILRI!




Aljazeera summarize as follows the main facts about global food security :
  • According to a UN commissioned report, by 2050, the crop yields of wheat could fall by 13 per cent and rice by 15 per cent  
  • Scientists say yam, barley, millet and lentils may become new staples as these crops can withstand harsh weather conditions  
  • Scientists say adopting new crops could be a cultural challenge  
  • Agricultural systems will struggle to feed nine to10 billion people by 2050  
  • The report predicts that the cost of feeding livestock will become more expensive  
  • Climate change could also affect the intensity of crop pests and diseases  
  • Scientists are trying to develop heat and drought resistant crops  
  • The report calls for global investment in more sustainable agriculture and recommends allocating more funding for agricultural research  
Check it out yourself under  http://aje.me/SyT8Hn.

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