ROME - In order to meet the world's rising food demand, agriculture has "no choice" but to increase its production by 70 percent in 2050, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-general Jacques Diouf has said at a two-day High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050, which concluded here on Tuesday.
Diouf urged concrete and rapid measures from governments and institutions since food emergency was an issue that could not be any further delayed.
The Rome-based agency hosted on Oct. 12-13 an international panel gathering more than 300 academic, nongovernmental and private sector representatives from both developing and developed countries. Talks focused on finding solutions to world famine and food emergency in 2050.
According to papers presented to the forum, the world's population is expected to soar by 34 percent and reach 9.1 billion by 2050. The population growth would take place entirely in developing countries.
There will thus be 2.3 billion more mouths to feed and a consequent higher risk of leaving 370 million people in hunger unless adequate investments are made both in agriculture and in other sectors vital to economic growth, the FAO experts concluded.
"The combined effect of population growth, strong income growth and urbanization is expected to result in almost the doubling of demand for food, feed and fiber," said Diouf.
The key to assuring global food security, however, lies in agriculture which is the core-sector of economic growth, especially in developing and emerging countries, Diouf added.
The FAO chief told delegates that in order to achieve a 70-percent increase in food production by 2050, "agriculture will have no choice but to be more productive" and a greater role is expected both from individual farmers and states.
To read full Xinhua News Agency story — Go Here Now.
|
