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.
