A thought for vanishing food

If there is one challenge bigger than that of climate change, it is that of poverty. The absolute number of poor people is still increasing (mostly in sub-Saharan Africa), and the projection is that 1 billion people will still be living below US$1.25 a day in 2015. To put it more vividly, every one in four lives in abject poverty. And when you talk poverty, the first requirement is that of food.

A recent FAO report talks of how declining aid and investment in agriculture has been increasing the number of undernourished people to a billion now.

Why has agriculture not been given priority? Global food output has to increase by 70 percent to feed projected population in 2050. What are we doing towards achieving that? Nothing. Merrily converting agricultural land to industrial purpose. Should the contribution of agriculture to GDP remain marginal? Can we not make investment in agriculture more attractive?

Equally important, how optimally can we use energy and water to increase food production? For as Michael Pollan notes, we have shifted from a food economy that yielded two calories of food for every one calorie of fossil fuel we burned to grow, harvest, process and distribute the food, to a food economy that yields one calorie of food for every ten calories of fossil fuel we put into obtaining it.
At the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa recently, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $120 million in nine new grants to organizations and research partners to work on the effort, focusing primarily on small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa.

In his speech Gates called for an end to the ideological division over the future of agriculture: “Productivity or sustainability — they say you have to choose. It’s a false choice,” he said. Rather, we need farming techniques that are both environmentally responsible and highly productive, and technology will help bridge the gap, he said.

Projects including distribution of legumes that fix nitrogen in the soil and pest-resistant sweet potatoes, help for women farmers in India to manage land and water resources sustainably and programs to deliver information to farmers via radio and mobile phones, all can avail the grant.

The Gates Foundation has committed billions already for agricultural development efforts — promoting techniques such as no-till farming (explained in the video clip below), rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation. Companies are working on smart water management, soil moisture sensors and wireless networks, etc. Web marketplaces are helping small farmers sell their produce.

This could well be the true green revolution, right? New ideas in food, energy and water coming together! Write in to us if you have heard of successful experiments.