It is time for the world leaders to sit up and take action about food crisis

Food crisis has become a global challenge in developing countries like Africa and Asia. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food crisis is major global concern and around 01 billion people are suffering from starvation, under-nutrition and malnutrition.

Since June 2011, the cost of food has increased worldwide and is now all-time high due to current Covid-19 situation. These numbers are greater than last food crisis in 2007-8. As a result, millions of people are being dragged below poverty line.

Natural resources are continuously being depleted and this situation is unlikely to change over time. Until 1800, everything was fine because global population was around 800 million and demand and supply chain was balanced. But now the world’s population is close to 8 billion people and it has become doomsday kind of situation. Moreover, the wealth of developed countries has increased 10 times and it has increased the problems. The phenomenal growth in developing countries has resulted in shortage of hydrocarbons, metals, land, water and fertilizers.

The limited resources will result in slow growth and severe food crisis in developing countries like China and India. The gap of demand and supply is widening and also inflation is rising. Although the number of people who are malnourished has decreased, yet the absolute number has increased to around 963 million people.

According to latest study, there will be around 3 billion more people to feed by 2050 and this will severely affect the available food supply chain. The use of effective fertilizers and increased use of water has increased the yield by 70%, but the production of cereals has neither gone up nor come down. This is due to less investment in agriculture. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the growth rate of production of oilseeds and grains is slowing down annually. This is largely due to increasing population, changing dietary habits and rising incomes particularly in China and India.

As water is becoming scarce, and fuel prices are rising, agriculture is no longer a feasible option. Therefore land is being converted into non-agriculture purposes. Fuel prices increases the cost of transportation of food products and its processing. In the last decade, fishing has also come down due to unaffordable fishing mechanisms.

According to UNEP report, around 33% of potentially usable land area of the world is not fit for agriculture due to its salinity. This salt has affected around 4.5 lakh square kilometres of irrigated land. Alone in South Asia, the yearly loss is around $1,500 million.

In developing countries, people have changed their dietary preferences and are shifting from grain-rich diet to protein-rich diet, thus demand for grains in again increasing. It takes 2 -3 kg of grains to produce 1kg of chicken and 7 -8 kg of grains to produce 01 kg of beef. In USA and Brazil, this tendency towards meat consumption has put pressure on grain production.

According to the Global Harvest Initiative, Africa would be able to fulfill food requirements of its people to only 13% of its population by 2050, so it will be most affected country. East Asia will be at better position to fulfill to 74% and Middle East to 83%. According to UN estimates, the world would require 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water.

The FAO has urged nations to set sustainable development goals to enhance food production. Its production should be increased by 70% in next four decades. This would require an investment of $83 billion a year on agriculture in developing countries. The use of water and marine ecosystem should be managed well to create sustainable energy by 2030.

The developed countries will stock up the food supplies by using their foreign reserves. However, the poor countries will face the challenge of food shortage. It is time for the world to sit together and take action before it is too late.