The Challenge of Feeding the World
April 16, 2010| |
Marion Guillou, chief executive of France's National Institute for Agricultural Research, in an interview by Nature News discussed the challenge of feeding the expected nine billion world population by 2050. Giullou reported during the first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development held in France that developing countries agreed to restore the vigor of household farms. By doing so, both local and global food demand could be met, alleviating poverty as well.
According to Giullou, one of the most promising ways to feed the thriving world population is to combat loss and waste. Thirty to 35% of the world's total food harvest is just dumped into the garbage. Agricultural scientists, together with food manufacturers and distributors, are finding solutions to solve this concern.
Giullou also stressed that media should not generalize the effect of genetically modified organisms. For instance, some GM crops led farmers to increase the use of herbicides which may have negative effects to the environment. On the other hand, there are also high yielding pest-resistant GM crops, which reduced the health concern of spraying pesticides.
The complete interview is posted at http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100414/full/464969a.html.
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