Abstract
The aim of the present research is to provide a comprehensive review about the current challenges related to food security and hidden hunger. Issues are presented according to major factors, such as growing population, changing dietary habits, water efficiency, climate change and volatile food prices. These factors were compiled from reports of major international organizations and from relevant scientific articles on the subject. Collecting the results and presenting them in an accessible manner may provide new insight for interested parties. Accessibility of data is extremely important, since food security and its drivers form a closely interconnected but extremely complex network, which requires coordinated problem solving to resolve issues. According to the results, the demand for growing agricultural products has been partly met by increasing cultivated land in recent decades. At the same time, there is serious competition for existing agricultural areas, which further limits the extension of agricultural land in addition to the natural constraints of land availability. Agricultural production needs to expand faster than population growth without further damage to the environment. The driving force behind development is sustainable intensive farming, which means the more effective utilization of agricultural land and water resources. Current global trends in food consumption are unsustainable, analyzed in terms of either public health, environmental impacts or socio-economic costs. The growing population should strive for sustainable food consumption, as social, environmental and health impacts are very important in this respect as well. To this end, the benefits of consuming foods that are less harmful to the environment during production are also to be emphasized in the scope of consumption policy and education related to nutrition as opposed to other food types, the production of which causes a major demand for raw materials.
Highlights
One of the most important challenges to achieve food security is the intensification of global food production
If current global processes continue and population growth tendencies remain unchanged, another 2.4 billion people will live in developing countries by 2050
Agricultural production needs to expand faster than population growth and this objective needs to be achieved in a sustainable way without further damage to the environment
Summary
One of the most important challenges to achieve food security is the intensification of global food production. Most surveys and research efforts in agriculture focus on crop production. As the global population continues to grow, agricultural production must keep pace with it. Scientific and technological innovations beat Malthus’ predictions in 1798 over the long run and increasing food production has met with the increasing food demand of the growing population. If current global processes continue and population growth tendencies remain unchanged, another 2.4 billion people will live in developing countries by 2050 (in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the population is expected to grow steadily). The size of urbanized areas is expected to increase threefold between 2000 and 2030 [6] In these regions, agriculture is of outstanding national economic importance. On average, over 20% of the population living in rural areas is suffering from food supply security problems [8]. According to forecasts, the average daily intake per capita is projected to exceed 3000 kcal globally by 2050 to reach 3500 kcal in developed countries and to exceed 2500 kcal even in the poorest sub-Saharan areas [10]
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