Demand for food is increasing worldwide. What is the cause of this? What measures can the international community take to make sure the supply of food is enough?
Meeting the food needs of billions of people is going to be a big challenge in the years to come. In this essay I will discuss the reasons for this growing demand of food and also suggest some steps, which can be taken at the global level to meet this requirement.
There are many reasons for the rising demand of food. The most prominent reason is the unprecedented growth in global population. Over the last century, the population has quadrupled. It was less than 2 billion in 1915, whereas today it is 7 billion plus, and is expected to rise even further. The second major cause is the rising income of people in developing countries, which causes dietary changes such as eating more protein and meat.
To address this global food shortage, businesses and governments will have to work together. Firstly, farmers will have to be given assistance to produce more food on the land they currently operate through intensive farming. The dairy demands of the consumers can also be met with GM technology. For example, in India millions of animals are needed to meet the consumer dairy demand, whereas in America fewer animals produce more milk because of the latest technology.
Another step, which can go a long way is to reduce food waste. This can be done by information campaigns to make people aware of the magnitude of food waste and the ways in which their food preparation and consumption habits can be changed. Finally, new technologies could be used to minimise food waste from storage and transportation. It has been estimated that if food waste could be cut to half over the next 40 years, the agricultural production would need to be increased by only 45% instead of 70%. This would be a much easier food production goal to achieve.
To sum up, there are many reasons of the increase in the demand of food all over the world, but many steps can be taken to meet the food needs of the world’s population.
Plan followed
Intro:
Para 1: Reasons
Para 2: Solutions
Para 3: Solutions
Conclusion
