Food

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

Addressing the challenges of food security

Work is taking place to address the challenges of food security by helping farmers grow more and lose less. This can be done by improving crop yields, safeguarding the environment and improving access to agricultural and environmental scientific knowledge.

“The challenge to feed current and future generations has not gone away”

"Rice feeds more than half of the people on the planet. It is critically important to developing countries in Asia where it forms a major part of people's diets and can flourish in environments where most other crops cannot.

In the 1960s Asia faced the threat of famine. Science delivered innovations that boosted rice yields, like shorter-stemmed rice that coped better with local weather conditions. This helped prevent millions having to face hunger and the conversion of millions of hectares of natural ecosystems to food production.

The ongoing development of new rice varieties with higher yields, built in pest and disease protection, and tolerance to difficult growing conditions together with smarter management techniques have seen the average yield of rice per hectare double over the last fifty years.
However, many people still live in dire poverty and face hunger everyday. At the same time the global population continues to rise. The challenge to feed current and future generations has not gone away and we need to meet the future demand for rice to avert major food insecurity issues. Without further increases in average rice yields per hectare we will be hard pressed to do this.

Climate change, environmental degradation, and less available land will pose fresh challenges, but science can help find solutions. We cannot ignore its contribution and the ongoing need to apply cutting edge science to address the challenges of hunger and poverty."

Dr. Robert Zeigler, Director General, International Rice Research Institute