One of the 10 biggest challenges identified at the World Economic Summit in Davos is food security. By 2050 the world will have to feed nine billion people and the demand for food will be 60 per cent greater. The United Nations has set itself the goal of ending hunger by 2030 and promoting sustainable agriculture. To achieve this, the agriculture sector will have to become more efficient. More food will have to be produced per hectare and with less emission of Co2 and reduced use of water. Increase in acreage of farms might not be the answer because this increase comes at the cost of forests. According to a European Commission report 70 per cent of deforestation has been driven by agriculture to provide food, fuel and fibre to growing economies. While agriculture is at the heart of low-income economies and provides large number of jobs it also drives deforestation. The International Institute for Environment and Development has laid additional emphasis on understanding the relation between forest, agriculture and climate change. The demand for more agriculture will result in loss of forest land and the real challenge is to increase food with minimal increase in agricultural acreage by adopting discoveries in genetics. While increasing food production, the world will also have to focus its energies on curbing wastage. The amount of food wasted each year is equal to the more than half the cereals produced in the world and unless this is reduced, malnutrition will be the norm in poorer communities and nations.
