Evaluation of phytopathogenic fungi according to the degree of danger

Global Food Security—Introduction

Integrated spatial planning for biodiversity conservation and food production

Recent advances in nanoemulsion for sustainable development of farm-to-fork systems

Growing population and the associated increasing global demand for farmland products, energy and fibers is placing unprecedented pressure on soil, water resources and ecosystems. The UN population prospects shows 8.3 billion people in 2030 and the IEA outlook reports the 30% increase of the energy consumption. Compared with the present, agricultural products demand is expected to increase up to 50%. Most of the human appropriation of freshwater resources is due to agricultural production (about 85% globally), while only a smaller fraction of water is used for household (≈5%) or industrial needs (≈10%). Because all food production depends directly or indirectly on agriculture, overall feeding the humanity requires much more water than quenching its thirst. There is some concern that in the next few decades the finite freshwater resources available on Earth might not be sufficient to meet the increasing human demand for food, fibers, and biofuels. Is mankind about to face a severe water crisis? At the end of the XVIII century Malthus (1798) noted that the rate of demographic growth tended to be faster than the increase in food supply, and argued that in the long run the humanity will not have enough resources to feed itself. Malthus’ analysis, however, did not account for our ability to dramatically increase our access to food through major technological advances. The modern and contemporary history has seen at least three major changes that have increased food production: (1) the industrial revolution in the early 1800s; (2) the green revolution (with river damming, fertilizers and new cultivars) in the fifties; and (3) the intensification of global trade, which allows some societies to rely on food imported from other countries and to virtually use water resources available abroad. The trade of food and other commodities is associated with a virtual transport of water from production to consumption regions. Virtual water trade is an effective mechanism to alleviate regional food and water scarcity by virtually redistributing water resources thereby allowing a number of countries to have access to the food they need. However, demographic growth could eventually push the humanity against the “planetary boundaries” imposed by resource limitations. Even though there is no evidence of any recent demographic response to resource limitations, such boundaries ought to exist and natural resources should ultimately control the size of the global population. Signs of our proximity to these planetary boundaries were adverted during the 2008 food crisis, when food prices skyrocketed, some exporters banned food exports, trade-dependent countries panicked, and the number of undernourished people in the world exceeded 1 billion. The 2008 crisis and the episodes that followed in 2010-11 suggest that the increasing demand for water and food have eroded the societal resilience and increased food insecurity . A solution is urgently needed, particularly for import-dependent countries . While in most cases the long term benefits of putting more land under the plow at the expenses of “natural ecosystems” are not justified by the associated increase in CO2 emissions and biodiversity losses, closing the yield gap (“distance” between potential and actual agricultural yields) in the existing cultivated land appears to be a more viable approach to food security. This requires investments in agriculture that many countries – particularly those with relatively large yield gaps – cannot afford. Therefore, until recently some of the potential breadbaskets of the world (e.g., Ukraine, Sudan, Tanzania) have remained underutilized. In the last few years, prompted by the recent food crises and the escalating demand for freshwater resources worldwide, some of the import-dependent countries have started to invest in foreign agricultural land in regions where water availability, yield gaps, and the cost of land make the development of commercial farming a profitable activity. This solution brings important questions on the state of present and future water resources. How much water are we using? What about the need of water in the next future? The virtual water trade can be considered a solution for feeding the humanity in the next future?

Triangle of Environment, Water and Energy: A Sociological Appraisal

In spite of the importance of food as a basic human need and major source of nutrients needed for human existence, the effect of high inflation rate on agricultural and food prices has been excruciating. This has in turn affected the poverty level of different households. There is however little information about food demand structure required for appropriate public policy and action for eliminating poverty and endemic malnutrition. This study was therefore designed to assess food demand among rural households in Kwara State. Specifically, the study determined rural households’ food demand; examined the factors that influence rural households’ food demand; and estimated rural households’ food demand elasticities A two-stage simple random sampling technique was employed in collecting data from a total of 425 rural households out of which responses from 411 rural households were used for the study. The main tools of analysis used for this study were descriptive statistics and the Linearized-Almost Ideal Demand System (LA-AIDS) model. The study reveals that roots/tubers, cereals and animal products constituted about 20% each of the budget share of the rural households’ food expenditure. The Linearized-Almost Ideal Demand System shows that food prices, real food expenditure, household size, dependency ratio, place of agriculture as a source of income, farm, size, crop output, household highest educational level and rural households’ food security status were the major factors affecting food demand among rural households in Kwara State.. The study further shows that cereals, fats/oils and vegetables with the expenditure elasticities that were positive but less than 1 could be classified as necessity goods while fruits with expenditure elasticity greater than 1 could be classified as luxury good. Contrary to the law of demand, this study shows that the demand for animal products and fats/oil increased with increase in their prices. In view of the importance of education to food demand, this study recommends the need to intensify efforts at making basic education compulsory in the rural areas. The study also reiterated the importance of increased food production through better access to extension service delivery, agricultural production cum processing facilities as well as the inclusion of increased cereals, roots/tubers and livestock production as priority areas in the agricultural reform programme of the Kwara State government.Keywords: Food Demand, Rural Households, Food Classes, Budget Share, Linearized -Almost Ideal Demand SystemNigerian Journal of Technological Research

Since 1978 China has moved gradually from a centrally planned to a mixed economic system of planning and markets. Under the new economic system consumers play more important role in determining China's food production and trade. Therefore, it is important for China's policymakers to understand household food demand because the effects of alternative food policies are conditioned by consumer demand. Information on China's food demand is also important for modeling the world food markets where China has been a major trader. Furthermore, China's long history of consumption rationing and gradual movement to a market economy provide a unique opportunity for studying consumer behavior in an economic transition;This study models China's household food demand in the transition toward a market economy. The major contributions of this study are: (1) a quantitative assessment of the changes in China's average food consumption and nutrient availability and sources through the compilation of annual food balance sheets during 1950 to 1991; (2) theoretical demand models for Chinese urban and rural households; (3) estimation of the associated demand models using the most recently available data; and (4) policy analysis based on the estimated demand models;The results from this study suggest four major conclusions: First, China's average dietary status changed modestly from 1950 to 1978 but has improved significantly since the 1978 economic reform. Second, China's household food consumption is in the transition from grains to animal products. The demand for animal products, and therefore feedgrains, in China is expected to increase at a significant rate. Third, with one-fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of the earth's arable land, China is likely to be a major importer of wheat, barley, beans, and feedgrains. Fourth, government policy has been a key factor of the changes in China's household food consumption and dietary improvement since 1980 and will continue to play an important role in influencing China's household food consumption and international food trade.

Household food demand in urban China: a censored system approach

Food security is the foundation of sustainable human development, and the balance between food supply and demand in urban areas is highly important for promoting residents' health and the sustainable development of cities. This paper takes the Urumqi Metropolitan Area (UMA), a typical oasis urban area, as the study area and uses the food production-demand gap indicator to assess the balance of food production and consumption in the region from 2000 to 2020 and projects food demand in 2030-2060. The results show, first, that residents' food consumption is characterized by high carbohydrate, protein, and fat consumption, and that this put more pressure on food production. Second, different food consumption structures will have different impacts on food production, and the local food production capacity in UMA falls short of ensuring a balanced nutritional structure for residents. Third, food demand increases significantly in 2030-2060, and the pressure of population consumption structure on food production is much greater than that of population growth. Considering the environmental effects of food transportation and the loss of food nutrients, on the production side, the construction of the UMA should be accelerated by including Qitai County and Jimsar County in the UMA's planning scope, strengthening city-regional connections, and improving the local food production and supply capacity of surrounding areas. On the consumption side, regional dietary guidelines should be developed based on local dietary culture and agricultural production conditions to help guide residents to adjust their dietary structures, thereby alleviating pressure on local food demand. Such measures are crucial for ensuring sufficient food supply and promoting balanced nutrition among the population.

Feeding the world in a narrowing safe operating space

Modelling food demand in the 21st century

New perspectives: Sustainable technological development in agriculture

1 Introduction The world human population is expanding, and the demand for food in the year 2050 is expected to be approximately 70% greater than in 2010 (FAO, 2009). Demand for meat and other livestock products is highly elastic to income (Delgado et al., 1999), and therefore as population affluence improves, the demand for livestock products will increase further. Also, the global human population is ageing, and older people typically consume larger quantities of animal-derived protein than children (Steinfeld et al., 2006). The expected 70% increase in food demand requires an annual increase in food production of 1.3% per annum. This increase in food demand requires an increased efficiency of food production, both animal and crop derived. Moreover, competition for land from other industries (e.g. biofuels) implies this increased animal and crop production must be achieved from an ever-declining land base. Although feed efficiency, as currently defined, is not synonymous with production efficiency, it undoubtedly will be a major contributor to increasing production from an ever-decreasing food-producing land base. The global production of red meat is expected to increase from 229 million tonnes in 1999-2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while global milk production is expected to increase from 580 to 1043 million tonnes in the same period (Steinfeld et al., 2006). This increased production must, however, be achieved in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner.

Addressing global environmental megatrends by decoupling the causal chain through floating infrastructure

Ensuring adequate food availability to an increasing world population constitutes one of the biggest challenges faced by humankind. Scientific and technological advances in food production during the last century enabled agriculture to cope with the concomitant increase in food demand. For example, cereal yields have more than doubled from a global average of 1.5 metric tons per hectare in the 1960s up to 3.2 metric tons per hectare in 2018. This was made possible by the work in different research fields such as agronomy, engineering, and plant sciences, showing that an inter and multidisciplinary approach is indispensable for significant progress. This manuscript is aimed at generating reflexion and analysis about the challenges that agriculture faces at present to satisfy projected food demands, which implies a further doubling of food production by 2050, according to the latest estimates. Relevant issues related to food production (climate change, pollution of water and soils by pesticides and fertilizers, loss of germplasm and biodiversity) are discussed and potential solutions to achieve food security in quantity and quality are reviewed, mainly from the plant breeding and crop‐production perspectives, always associated with environmental health preservation and improvement. A broad transdisciplinary effort is needed to increase the impact of science and technology to provide more people with healthier and safer food, produced in a sustainable way. Nonetheless, science and technology alone will not succeed to meet those challenges. Education and knowledge transfer strategies are needed to guarantee responsible production and consumption everywhere, therefore allowing the benefits of scientific and technological progress reach the world population. Simultaneously, adequate action by regulatory authorities and governments concerted at international level, with thorough application of the Precautionary Principle, and aiming at environmental and social justice are imperatively required to meet the challenge and achieve the goal.