Food Shortages from 2009 - Water Shortages and the Future - Current research- Part 1
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Right now...
One billion people are starving
Today ...
25 000 people will die from malnutrition
The global farm yield is currently growing by 1,1% a year
Before 1990, it was increasing at 2% a year
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization
projects that the growth will continue to fall
The human population is steadily increasing
The world's farmers will have to
double their output by 2050 to meet the demand
Food security is closely tied to volatile energy costs
Crops need to be transported and treated
with petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides
Energy price spikes are likely to hit hard in the future
And water...
The population growth will strain water supplies
along with the land use pressures
and the effects of climate change
Half a billion people currently live in countries
with chronic water shortages
that figure is expected to rise to 4 billion by 2050
Despite these alarming projections...
Investment in agriculture has rapidly declined
in recent decades
Africa's per capita production of maize has dropped by 14% since 1980
There have been sharp cut-backs
in research into new technologies...
farming techniques and seed varieties that could increase yields...
cope with climate changes...
be more resistant to new pests and diseases...
and make food more nutritious
To be continued
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