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A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warns that the effects of climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine would prevent achieving the zero hunger challenge in 2030, one of the main objectives sustainable development of the UN.
The scene changed. The report entitled “Agricultural Outlook 2022-2031”, prepared together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, realizes that the goal of eliminating hunger in the next eight years would be impossible unless global agricultural productivity increase by 28%, “three times more than it has grown in the last decade”.
To achieve this, cites the report, harvests would have to double to reach 24%, while animal meat production would have to grow 31%, taking into account the necessary sustainability measures so that greenhouse gas emissions do not continue. growing.
“Achieving both goals in less than ten years through productivity improvement alone would be very difficult, suggesting that other measures need to be taken in parallel,” the report mentions.
The organizations propose some solutions to reverse the situation, among which are the approval of direct policies that mitigate gas emissions, the implementation of new technologies to transform agri-food systems, the application of stricter measures against food waste and the limitation of excess calorie intake. and protein in higher income countries.
“Further efforts are needed for the agricultural sector to contribute effectively to the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This includes the large-scale adoption of climate-smart production processes and technologies, especially in the agricultural sector. livestock”, they indicate, while pointing out that this industry is the main cause of emissions, which will increase by 8.8% until 2031.
Ukraine and the sum of crises
The war in Ukraine stands out among the main obstacles to reducing hunger. This is because Ukraine and Russia are two of the most important cereal producers and exporters in the world. Together they accumulate a production of 30% of the world’s wheat, 50% of sunflower oil and 15% of fertilizers.
But the war also disrupted hydrocarbon markets, raising the cost of transportation and fertilizers, especially in countries that export cereals for both their diets and livestock feed.
The agency affirms that there will be an increase in the demand for food, which will be 1.4% per year during the next decade due to population growth, but with differences between low and high income countries.
Regarding Latin America, the report says that despite being the region that exports the most, “it continues to face great challenges to reduce food insecurity”, caused especially by the increase in prices during the pandemic, when the number of people suffering from extreme poverty increased by 13.8%.
with EFE
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