Food security - what security?

Conclusion

Farming and marketing practices can be reformed to produce crops more efficiently and reduce waste but there is little sign that such measures are being instituted.

The productivity of some land might be improved through use of bio-char but fundamental challenges posed by increasingly expensive and scarce fertilisers needed to increase production have not been overcome.

The loss of arable land due to global warming and the needs of rapidly growing global and regional populations, the destruction of habitat, both marine and land, can only be reversed by acting to stop their causes. Too little effective action is being taken.

An obvious measure is to curtail population growth. This is occurring naturally in many the developed countries and is legislated in China but most countries either refuse to adopt such measures, are unable or unwilling to enforce them, or are confronted by religious opposition to them. Some countries even promote population growth by offering financial and other incentives to parents and by increasing their migration intake.

How will a population expected to reach 10 billion within the next 50 years be fed? The answer is quite simple: it will not - and we know it. Billions will starve, particularly in countries vulnerable to the effects described above.

Mass population movements will occur as those most threatened by food shortages and reduced ability to produce it attempt to reach more prosperous parts. Resistance from the people of those parts could lead to wars and political instability. For many the future is bleak.