Community | September 23, 2009 | 5 comments

World will need 70 percent more food in 2050: FAO

source: http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/world-will-need-more-food/

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WakeUpPeople
World food production must increase by 70 percent by 2050, to nourish a human population then likely to be 9.1 billion, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation forecast Wednesday.

"FAO is cautiously optimistic about the world's potential to feed itself by 2050," said FAO Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem. However, he stressed that feeding everyone in the world by then "will not be automatic and several significant challenges have to be met."

The agency is preparing for a high-level expert forum in Rome on October 12-13 on "How to Feed the World in 2050" and plans to gather 300 specialists from academic, non-governmental and private sector institutions.

This forum will pave the way for a World Summit on Food Security in Rome on November 16-18.

The world population is expected to grow from 6.8 billion today to 9.1 billion in 2050, according to the latest UN forecast.

"Nearly all of the population growth will occur in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa's population is expected to grow the fastest (up 108 percent, 910 million people), and East and South East Asia's the slowest (up 11 percent, 228 million).

"Around 70 percent of the world population will live in cities or urban areas by 2050, up from 49 percent today," the document said.

The demand for food is expected to grow as a result of rising incomes as well as population growth, the discussion paper added. Cereal production will have to increase by almost a billion tonnes from 2.1 billion today and meat production will have to grow by more than 200 million tonnes to reach a total of 470 million tonnes in 2050.

The FAO estimated that the "production of biofuels could also increase the demand for agricultural commodities, depending on energy prices and government policies."

More land will be needed for crops "despite the fact that 90 percent of the growth in crop production is projected to come from higher yields and increased cropping intensity."

The FAO estimated that "arable land will have to expand by around 120 million hectares in developing countries," mainly in Africa and Latin America, while "arable land in use in developed countries is expected to decline by some 50 million hectares, although this could be changed by the demand for biofuels."
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5 comments // World will need 70 percent more food in 2050: FAO

  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • This post is so incredibly myopic and short sighted I can't stand it. Kurzweil says in a few years (before 2050) we'll have nanobot replacement of our internal organs. That means a lot less food. We're all going to be immortal soon. Crank up the corn harvester and make some more biofuel uhm ethanol, and pass the chicken please. Everything's just fine.

      Once we have nanobots laced all through our bloodstream we can do Outer Space, take our humanity out there, thataway.

    • 2 years ago
  • RFIDemocracy
    • 0
      RFIDemocracy  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Interesting observation, particularly because I have been reading some Kurzweil lately and I admire his genius.
      The astonishing curve of technology is mind-boggling and the average observer misses it until the latest gizmo comes along and they remark, Cool, how'd they do that?
      However, I am not so convinced that because the technology is possible or even likely that it will happen or that the average non-filthy rich individual will have access to cutting edge health benefits, if the establishment gets it's way.
      Sure, it looks good on paper (or virtual paper).

      How many people in Bangladesh or Guadalajara are going to benefit from nano-organs or AI? Where are the organ transplants and other modern health benefits for the average working stiff today? You have to declare bankrucy in the US to survive a minor cancer treatment regimen as it is.
      Possibly just more pie-in-the-sky? Bill Gates will live for four point seven centuries at least.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Making people live forever won't take as long in development as we might think, because we are accustomed to stuff getting done real slow. The current trend is to bypass safety regulations, go around the law and do what needs to get done.

      So I suspect they'll move from rat testing to prisoner testing very quickly, perhaps the prisoners not even knowing it's being done to them. The prisoners who die from nanobots in their food will just be written off as another ptomaine poisoning and quickly disposed of.

      Like happens to rats.

    • 2 years ago
  • RFIDemocracy
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