세계은행: 식량안보는 더 효율적인 식량생산에 달려 있다

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The world must learn to produce food in a more efficient, sustainable way, according to Marc Sadler, team leader of The World Bank’s Agricultural Finance and Risk Management Team.

Mr. Sadler told The Source:

“This comes from reducing waste and storage losses. In a world of finite resources we need to be more efficient, and to get these goals we need to invest more. The more resources that we put into food, the more we will get [out].

“This is a global reality–not only is the population increasing, but we are also seeing changing consumer patterns. It’s obvious that a lot of these changes are linked to higher income and the higher consumption of protein.”

The big challenge, he said, “is to help farmers in the developing world have opportunities to become part of the global situation.”

Agriculture officials meeting to discuss food security at the Group of 20 Industrialized and Developing Nations (G-20) summit say the answer to world hunger lies in increasing international collaboration and farmer training, particularly among small producers, to increase world agricultural productivity, otherwise there won’t be enough food for everyone in the future.

And even short-term, food security issues loom.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, has said that despite forecasts for a record increase this year in world cereal production, several regions of the world will struggle to have enough food as a result of low rainfall, severe weather, armed conflict and displacement.

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé’s Chief Executive Officer, attending the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico has joined calls to accelerate food security programmes globally.

“We need to strengthen research for efficiently produced, healthy food, while ensuring the availability of food at affordable prices,” said Mr. Bulcke.

Mr. Bulcke also said that in order to ensure food security, agriculture must play a critical role in helping to address the urgent issue of water scarcity, stating that should present trends continue one-third of the population will be affected by water shortages by 2020–that’s an annual water loss that equates to 30% needed to grow 30% of our global grain crop.

Food price inflation climbed toward the top of the international agenda after hitting successive record highs in the early part of last year amid global supply concerns for cereals, sugar and cocoa. Rising food prices were also partly cited for sparking unrest that saw the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya fall.