Food Security 

About: Food Security is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Food security & Agriculture. It has an ISSN identifier of 1876-4517. Over the lifetime, 1184 publications have been published receiving 40308 citations.

Crops that feed the world 6. Past successes and future challenges to the role played by maize in global food security

Abstract: Wheat is fundamental to human civilization and has played an outstanding role in feeding a hungry world and improving global food security The crop contributes about 20 % of the total dietary calories and proteins worldwide Food demand in the developing regions is growing by 1 % annually and varies from 170 kg in Central Asia to 27 kg in East and South Africa The developing regions (including China and Central Asia) account for roughly 53 % of the total harvested area and 50 % of the production Unprecedented productivity growth from the Green Revolution (GR) since the 1960s dramatically transformed world wheat production, benefitting both producers and consumers through low production costs and low food prices Modern wheat varieties were adopted more rapidly than any other technological innovation in the history of agriculture, recently reaching about 90 % of the area in developing regions One of the key challenges today is to replace these varieties with new ones for better sustainability While the GR “spared” essential ecosystems from conversion to agriculture, it also generated its own environmental problems Also productivity increase is now slow or static Achieving the productivity gains needed to ensure food security will therefore require more than a repeat performance of the GR of the past Future demand will need to be achieved through sustainable intensification that combines better crop resistance to diseases and pests, adaptation to warmer climates, and reduced use of water, fertilizer, labor and fuel Meeting these challenges will require concerted efforts in research and innovation to develop and deploy viable solutions Substantive investment will be required to realize sustainable productivity growth through better technologies and policy and institutional innovations that facilitate farmer adoption and adaptation The enduring lessons from the GR and the recent efforts for sustainable intensification of cereal systems in South Asia and other regions provide useful insights for the future

Food security: definition and measurement

Abstract: The term “food security” has been used over time to mean different things. This brief article discusses the various meanings attached to the concept and suggests that it can be a useful measure of household and individual welfare, particularly if combined with estimates of household food aquisition and allocation behavior. If nutritional security is the goal of interest, estimates of access to food should be combined with estimates of access to clean water and good sanitation. Anthrometric measures are likely to be more appropriate than food security estimates to target policies and programs to improved child nutrition.

Crop losses due to diseases and their implications for global food production losses and food security

Abstract: The status of global food security, i.e., the balance between the growing food demand of the world population and global agricultural output, combined with discrepancies between supply and demand at the regional, national, and local scales (Smil 2000; UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2011; Ingram 2011), is alarming. This imbalance is not new (Dyson 1999) but has dramatically worsened during the recent decades, culminating recently in the 2008 food crisis. It is important to note that in mid-2011, food prices were back to their heights of the middle of the 2008 crisis (FAO 2011). Plant protection in general and the protection of crops against plant diseases in particular, have an obvious role to play in meeting the growing demand for food quality and quantity (Strange and Scott 2005). Roughly, direct yield losses caused by pathogens, animals, and weeds, are altogether responsible for losses ranging between 20 and 40 % of global agricultural productivity (Teng and Krupa 1980; Teng 1987; Oerke et al. 1994; Oerke 2006). Crop losses due to pests and pathogens are direct, as well as indirect; they have a number of facets, some with short-, and others with long-term consequences (Zadoks 1967). The phrase “losses between 20 and 40 %” therefore inadequately reflects the true costs of crop losses to consumers, public health, societies, environments, economic fabrics and farmers. The components of food security include food availability (production, import, reserves), physical and economic access to food, and food utilisation (e.g., nutritive value, safety), as has been recently reviewed by Ingram (2011). Although crop losses caused by plant disease directly affect the first of these components, they also affect others (e.g., the food utilisation component) directly or indirectly through the fabrics of trade, policies and societies (Zadoks 2008). Most of the agricultural research conducted in the 20th century focused on increasing crop productivity as the world population and its food needs grew (Evans 1998; Smil 2000; Nellemann et al. 2009). Plant protection then primarily focused on protecting crops from yield losses due to biological and non-biological causes. The problem remains as challenging today as in the 20th century, with additional complexity generated by the reduced room for manoeuvre available environmentally, economically, and socially (FAO 2011; Brown 2011). This results from shrinking natural resources that are available to agriculture: these include water, agricultural land, arable soil, biodiversity, the availability of non-renewable energy, human labour, fertilizers (Smil 2000), and the deployment of some key inputs, such as high quality seeds and planting material (Evans 1998). In addition to yield losses caused by diseases, these new elements of complexity also include post harvest quality losses and the possible accumulation of toxins during and after the S. Savary (*) : J.-N. Aubertot INRA, UMR1248 AGIR, 24 Chemin de Borde Rouge, Auzeville, CS52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France e-mail: Serge.Savary@toulouse.inra.fr

Crops that feed the world 7: Rice

Abstract: Fears about global food security led to a spike in food prices in 2008, social unrest and pushed a further 100 million people into poverty. Prices remain high and volatile. In this paper we take a closer look at rice, a crop that feeds billions of people in the world, and focus in particular on Asia and Africa. On both continents, rice is grown in a wide range of climatic conditions, from river deltas to mountainous regions. Irrigated systems dominate in Asia and rainfed systems in Africa. Predicted demands for rice remain strong. An additional 116 million tons of rice will be needed by 2035 to feed growing populations. In Africa, where rice is the most rapidly growing food source, about 30 million tons more rice will be needed by 2035, representing an increase of 130% in rice consumption from 2010. About one-third of this extra rice will be needed in Nigeria alone. In Asia, per capita consumption of rice may go down in some mid- and high-income countries. Rice farming will need to produce about 8–10 million tons more paddy per year over the next decade. Without area expansion this will require an annual yield increase of about 1.2–1.5%, equivalent to an average yield increase of 0.6 t ha−1 world-wide. Improving global food security will, therefore, necessitate concerted efforts to increase the productivity of rice per unit of land, water and/or labor in Asia and Africa, and the development of new land and water resources in a responsible and equitable manner to counteract losses due to urbanization and industrialization. During 2007–2011, productivity increases in Africa have been leading the way, with paddy rice production levels increasing by 9.5% per year, compared to 1.6% in Asia. Priorities for rice sector development include (i) continued and increased research efforts to close yield gaps and raise yield ceilings across rice growing environments through varietal development and improved rice production methods, and coping with climate change in both continents and (ii) strengthened and equitable public-private sector partnerships and conducive policy environments in Africa, with special emphasis on mechanization of rice farming from land preparation to harvest and rice processing practices.

Feeding 9 billion by 2050 – Putting fish back on the menu

Abstract: Fish provides more than 4.5 billion people with at least 15 % of their average per capita intake of animal protein. Fish’s unique nutritional properties make it also essential to the health of billions of consumers in both developed and developing countries. Fish is one of the most efficient converters of feed into high quality food and its carbon footprint is lower compared to other animal production systems. Through fish-related activities (fisheries and aquaculture but also processing and trading), fish contribute substantially to the income and therefore to the indirect food security of more than 10 % of the world population, essentially in developing and emergent countries. Yet, limited attention has been given so far to fish as a key element in food security and nutrition strategies at national level and in wider development discussions and interventions. As a result, the tremendous potential for improving food security and nutrition embodied in the strengthening of the fishery and aquaculture sectors is missed. The purpose of this paper is to make a case for a closer integration of fish into the overall debate and future policy about food security and nutrition. For this, we review the evidence from the contemporary and emerging debates and controversies around fisheries and aquaculture and we discuss them in the light of the issues debated in the wider agriculture/farming literature. The overarching question that underlies this paper is: how and to what extent will fish be able to contribute to feeding 9 billion people in 2050 and beyond?