and Agriculture Organization (FAO), world agricultural production growth is
expected to fall by 1.5 % per year to 2030 and then a further reduction by 0.9 % to
2050, compared with 2.3 % growth per year since 1961 (Bruinsma 2003).
Food demands of the 7.2 billion population of 2013 are presently met through
utilization of 4.9 gigahectare of land under agricultural production or 33.1 % of
the total land area of 14.8 Gha. However, only 10.0 Gha is suitable for production
of crops and/or livestock. The remaining 4.8 Gha (32.4 % of the total land area) is
too dry, too hot, too cold, too shallow, or too steep. Moreover, land area available
for agriculture is dwindling, and being degraded, eroded, salinized, contaminated,
polluted, sealed up, and converted to nonagricultural uses (e.g., urban, recreational, industrial, biofuel) (Lal 2013b).
1.10.4 Necessary Increasing in Food Production
Food security is defined by the FAO (2002) as a ‘‘situation that exists when all
people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe
and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life.’’ This definition involves four aspects of food security, namely
food availability, food stability, food access, and food utilization (Schmidhuber and
Tubiello 2007). Food security is increasingly important for humans all over the
world. Food availability and food quality still are the big challenges for scientists
due to changing climate. Further research on food security needs to integrate
population, crop production, climate change, and water availability (Kang et al.
2009).
Coping with population growth as well as additional per capita food demand
represents a major challenge in feeding humanity in the future. The world average
caloric intake of about 2,800 kcal per person per day in the year 2000 is judged
adequate for average activities. However, there are still about 570 million people
living in countries with an average of less than 2,200 kcal per person per day,
which is considered the minimal amount to meet the basic nutritional needs.
The high and widening inequality and income gap between the rich and the
poor is a serious concern; though it is amazing that while 1 billion people are
hungry in the developing world, a significant proportion of the population in the
developed countries is obese (Barrett 2010).
Achieving food security under climate change is a complex public policy.
Global food security threatened by climate change is one of the most important
challenges in the twenty-first century to supply sufficient food for the increasing
population while sustaining the already stressed environment (Kang et al. 2009).
Alcamo et al. (2007) evaluated present and future climate scenario impacts on food
security and water availability in 2020 and 2070 and provided some measures to
enlarge potential crop production such as diversifying crops and expanding the
rainfed and irrigated agriculture areas.
1 Strategies for Sustainable Plant Food Production
25
expected to fall by 1.5 % per year to 2030 and then a further reduction by 0.9 % to
2050, compared with 2.3 % growth per year since 1961 (Bruinsma 2003).
Food demands of the 7.2 billion population of 2013 are presently met through
utilization of 4.9 gigahectare of land under agricultural production or 33.1 % of
the total land area of 14.8 Gha. However, only 10.0 Gha is suitable for production
of crops and/or livestock. The remaining 4.8 Gha (32.4 % of the total land area) is
too dry, too hot, too cold, too shallow, or too steep. Moreover, land area available
for agriculture is dwindling, and being degraded, eroded, salinized, contaminated,
polluted, sealed up, and converted to nonagricultural uses (e.g., urban, recreational, industrial, biofuel) (Lal 2013b).
1.10.4 Necessary Increasing in Food Production
Food security is defined by the FAO (2002) as a ‘‘situation that exists when all
people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe
and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life.’’ This definition involves four aspects of food security, namely
food availability, food stability, food access, and food utilization (Schmidhuber and
Tubiello 2007). Food security is increasingly important for humans all over the
world. Food availability and food quality still are the big challenges for scientists
due to changing climate. Further research on food security needs to integrate
population, crop production, climate change, and water availability (Kang et al.
2009).
Coping with population growth as well as additional per capita food demand
represents a major challenge in feeding humanity in the future. The world average
caloric intake of about 2,800 kcal per person per day in the year 2000 is judged
adequate for average activities. However, there are still about 570 million people
living in countries with an average of less than 2,200 kcal per person per day,
which is considered the minimal amount to meet the basic nutritional needs.
The high and widening inequality and income gap between the rich and the
poor is a serious concern; though it is amazing that while 1 billion people are
hungry in the developing world, a significant proportion of the population in the
developed countries is obese (Barrett 2010).
Achieving food security under climate change is a complex public policy.
Global food security threatened by climate change is one of the most important
challenges in the twenty-first century to supply sufficient food for the increasing
population while sustaining the already stressed environment (Kang et al. 2009).
Alcamo et al. (2007) evaluated present and future climate scenario impacts on food
security and water availability in 2020 and 2070 and provided some measures to
enlarge potential crop production such as diversifying crops and expanding the
rainfed and irrigated agriculture areas.
1 Strategies for Sustainable Plant Food Production
25