THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

After the Green Revolution, between the years 1940-1970, the problem of lack of food leads being resolved, thanks to the introduction of modern farming methods and high productivity is the likely consequence of demographic boom of the 70's last century.

This Green Revolution is based on the use of high yielding varieties and hybrids, fertilizer use, production mechanization, improved irrigation techniques and farm management, food security .... Food production has increased significantly, although in specific regions of the world crop and livestock production continues to maintain precarious livelihood systems, causing periodic famines high social impact.

Specifically and very recently, during the years 2007 and 2008, increases in food prices worldwide occurred, causing a food crisis in the most disadvantaged and poorest regions of the world.

The reason for this, however, resided in fluctuations in market demand, which replaced traditional crops for biofuel farms at a time with very high oil prices. These circumstances, coupled with periods of bad harvests, increased consumption of food products in China and India with a demographic upturn in both countries, low levels of reserves and increases in the price of corn, rice, soybeans and wheat, created a "perfect storm" in the global food market, which has warned us about the importance of stability in the food sector and its impact on the development and increase the standard of living of mankind.

However, this development can only be sustainable if you take into consideration the many current environmental challenges: climate change, desertification, land degradation, depletion of water resources, etc. Since for most poor agriculture is the key to their survival, development of agriculture is one of the essential requirements for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, with which aims to halve the proportion of population living in extreme poverty and suffering from chronic hunger.

The food problem and takes on a role that must be addressed urgently, taking into account numerous factors that increase the production difficulties: From the above population growth, increased living standards; the greatest need of using biofuels, which requires more acreage that is not used to grow food, to water reduction and global warming...

The challenges are, as we see, very important, though few are the solutions proposed to date. A growing intervention of government on the control of food production in the medium term would cause tensions between different geographical areas which could only be solved with the creation of supra-state bodies control susceptible turn be controlled by private interests lobbies...

Other possibilities, such as control of a diet aimed at a lower intake of animal species, remember the recent FAO recommendation regarding the marketing of insects, anecdotally received only because of the numerous socio-cultural barriers in consumer food.

Answers surely come from the hand of the food industry itself. Openness to all technological sector activities, including agricultural biotechnology, coupled with increased investments in R+D+i, along with the regulatory uniformity levels of food safety and marketing and promoting productive sustainability policies constitute the natural steps of a problem that will become vital for humanity in the next and already coming decades.

+info:

• The global food crisis of 2007-2008: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_alimentaria_mundial_(2007-2008)
• Food crises throughout history: http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2011/06/03/actualidad/1307052009_850215.html  
• Food Crisis in Spain: http://revista.nutricion.org/hemeroteca/revista_agosto_03/Gestion_Crisis/Lugo_publisegalimensedca.pdf