FAO: 70 Percent More Food Needed Worldwide by 2050

Svetlana Kovalyova of Reuters is reporting that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today feeding the 2.3 billion people that will be added to the current population (over six billion) will require the world to produce an additional 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed the global population as well as deal with rising incomes.

The FAO released statement said that the demand on cereals for food and animal feed will “rise to 3 billion tonnes by 2050 and more demand may come from the biofuels industry . . .” Annually, about 2.1 billion tonnes of cereal is currently produced. Meanwhile, FAO believes an additional 200 million tonnes of meat will be needed to achieve the expected demand for 470 million tonnes in 2050. While the FAO is optimistic these demands can be met, there is concern “that climate change and biofuels demand would be the main challenges for world agriculture.”

Without additional investments in agriculture and enhancements in food access, roughly 5 percent of the world population could be going hungry by 2050. “The number of hungry people will pass 1 billion this year, but food aid is at a 20-year low, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said last week.” This lack of food aid will have to be addressed if the expected population by 2050 is going to get fed.

While more land will needed to be used to produce the additional food, thanks to work done by the late Norman Borlaug and other scientists, it is expected that much of the additional crop output needed can come from higher yields and improved species. It may take considerable investment to bring land that isn’t currently being used into production, and the subsequent environmental consequences of turning so much land into production do not seem to be fully known or considered. Water use and water delivery efficiencies will also be a major issue that will have to be addressed if the world is going to feed its population by 2050.

To read the Reuters article click here.

Posted: 09/23/09