The challenge lies in improving efficiency of land and water use. Irrigation is extremely inefficient – close to 60 per cent of the water used is wasted. This will only improve by an estimated total of 4 per cent. There is a tremendous need to improve the financing of better technology and to promote better management practices.
On a more positive note, average grain yields doubled between 1962 and 1996, from 1.4 to 2.8 tons/hectares/crop. This means that less than half the amount of arable land is now required to grow the same amount of grain. “By 2030, it is expected that 80 per cent of increased crop production will come from higher yields, increased multiple cropping and shorter fallow periods”, says the report.
“Towards 2050, the world could enjoy access to food for all”, says the report. “The fact that 815 million are presently ravaged by chronic undernourishment is not due to a lack of capacity to produce the required food, but to global and national social, economic and political contexts that permit, and sometimes cause, unacceptable levels of poverty to perpetuate.”
On a more positive note, average grain yields doubled between 1962 and 1996, from 1.4 to 2.8 tons/hectares/crop. This means that less than half the amount of arable land is now required to grow the same amount of grain. “By 2030, it is expected that 80 per cent of increased crop production will come from higher yields, increased multiple cropping and shorter fallow periods”, says the report.
“Towards 2050, the world could enjoy access to food for all”, says the report. “The fact that 815 million are presently ravaged by chronic undernourishment is not due to a lack of capacity to produce the required food, but to global and national social, economic and political contexts that permit, and sometimes cause, unacceptable levels of poverty to perpetuate.”