An increasing population has always meant that at some point access to food would be restricted. Tina Carmillia discusses how technology may have not always been the smartest choice, but in hindsight (and smarter application) may hold some of the answers we are looking for today.
Achieving food security means that ‘all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life’, according to the World Food Summit of 1996.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in its joint report with the Organisation of Economic Cooperation estimates that agricultural output growth will slow to an average of 1.7 per cent annually over the next decade. This will increase concern for food security, as well as drive up food prices.
For the millions of people living in poverty worldwide, high food prices, on top of an increase in fuel prices, cause great hardship. The first of the Millennium Development Goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Unfortunately, today, one in eight of the seven billion people on earth still do not get enough food to eat every day.
The rise in demand for food is further fuelled by population growth, increase in the average human lifespan, competition for agricultural land from the growth of biofuel demands, and climate change, among other factors. Food prices are reliant on climatic conditions as it greatly affects the harvest yield.
For example, drought in parts of east Asia and Australia in 2008 cut back rice production that subsequently caused a surge in its price. Oil prices also contributed to the spike in food prices as it heightened the cost of fertilisers, food transport, and industrial agriculture practices.
In order to feed everyone sufficiently, the FAO projected that the world must raise food production by 70 per cent from the current rate to support a global population rise of 30 per cent by 2050. The world population is expected to hit nine billion by then. Thus, the agriculture industry has to focus on increasing sustainable productivity growth.
Green Revolution
In agriculture and animal husbandry, the Green Revolution post World War 2 popularised the use of conventional hybridisation to increase yield. It was Norman Borlaug, an American agronomist, who played a pivotal role in the makings of the revolution.
The period between the 1940s and the late 1970s was dedicated to research, development and technology transfer initiatives to increase agricultural production around the world. The Green Revolution spread technologies that although were already in existence, were not widely used outside of industrialised countries. This included the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation systems, and the distribution of hybridised seeds, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.
As a result, Mexico, which imported half its wheat before the Green Revolution, became self-sufficient and exported 500,000 tonnes of wheat by 1964. In the UK, where wartime food rationing continued into the 1950s, increased self-sufficiency from 30 per cent to 80 per cent between 1940 and 1980. India increased rice yields from two tonnes per hectare to six, and today is still known to be one of the world’s most successful rice producers. Globally, grain production increased by more than 250 per cent between 1950 and 1984 helping avoid widespread famine during the critical post-war period.
Today, because of its extensive use of pesticide necessary for pest control, the Green Revolution received some criticism for its impact on the environment as well as on human health. In the Indian state of Punjab for example, a comprehensive study has shown that the intensive use of chemicals and pesticide in the state’s farming activity has a direct relationship with the increased incidence of cancer in the region.
Despite having met its purpose of feeding the millions worldwide in the face of impending famine, a revolution of this magnitude came with a price. By the late 1980s, the works of the Green Revolutions saw a concerted disapproval from some sectors of the industry for its practices that is said to be damaging from an eco-development standpoint.
Is GM food the answer?
Genetically modified food has become increasingly important in the topic of food security. Genetic modification is achieved by adding a specific gene or genes, or by knocking down a gene in order to produce a desirable phenotype. Unlike conventional hybridisation, genetic modification can produce a plant with a desired trait faster because the rest of the plant’s genome is not altered.
Biotechnology and genetic engineering could be part of the solution to provide foods that can be grown in places where natural conditions are usually unfavourable. Foods can also be harvested with higher yields. This translates to lower food prices and greater availability.
Last year was the 16th year in which genetically modified crops have been commercialised. Globally, the commercial value of biotech crops grown last year alone is estimated to be RM40.2 billion, up from RM35.7 billion in 2010.
Last year, 19 of the 29 countries planting biotech crops were developing economies. The five leading developing countries are China, India, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa. The most common biotech crops are staple food such as maize, canola, soybean, rice and potatoes. However, no genetically modified livestock have been approved to enter the market as yet.
Genetically modified foods are agricultural crops that have their DNA modified using genetic engineering techniques. This is usually done to introduce a new trait to the plant that does not occur naturally in the species. The most common traits introduced are to increase the size of the plant, to generate better nutrients, or resistance to herbicides, pests, diseases and environmental conditions.
Proponents of GM foods believe that biotech crops can help alleviate some of the concerns about food security in a number of ways. At the farmer-level, GM foods contribute food security and self sufficiency, including making food more affordable by increasing productivity and economic gains.
GM-based agricultural practices are also said to reduce the industry’s environmental footprint. Biotech crops are capable of higher productivity per hectare of arable land, which is a land-saving strategy to minimise deforestation and land clearing. Because crops are also genetically modified to withstand drought and other environmental pressures, it has also increased efficiency of water usage.
On top of that, it uses significantly less pesticide compared to conventional agriculture due to its resistance to pests. In a report by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, the accumulative reduction in pesticide for the period of 1996 to 2010 is estimated at 443 million kilogrammes of active ingredients, which is a saving of 9.1 per cent in pesticides. This figure is equivalent to a 17.9 per cent reduction in the environmental impact from pesticide use.
Nevertheless, GM food and the technology behind it is still intertwined with controversy. Surveys documenting public perceptions about GM food have shown that people are concerned about what goes into our bodies. As GM food is a new technology, there is a widespread desire for more information about the risks and benefits of GM food.
Some scientists and advocacy groups including the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace have been in the forefront to call for additional and thorough testing of existing GM food and technologies. Presently, several studies over the past decade have shown that consumption of GM food poses no higher risks than conventional produce.
Furthermore, a hidden crisis that could severely threaten food security may be present from biotech alterations as genetic erosion and genetic pollution can destroy unique genotypes. Without diverse genetic material, crops and livestock cannot be further hybridised to overcome more resistant diseases and climatic changes.
Critics also point out that GM-based farming can result in an increased income inequality and inequitable asset distribution. They argue that owners of large farms are the main adopters of the new technologies. Small farmers are either unaffected or even harmed because it results in lower product prices and higher capital costs.
Additionally, some scientists believe that genetically modified crops have not led to any substantial increase in food production. Instead, this group of researchers call for the use of conventional hybrid breeding, and making use of local knowledge of natural resources instead, such as the practice in some parts of the world where small farms were given the priority in its agricultural transformation process.
Home-grown solutions
The capacity of Africa’s agriculture to ensure food security is often in question. Apart from political instability in the region, the continent is frequently bogged by prolonged drought or erratic rainfall, both of which lead to devastating crop yield.
However, many small-scale farmers, with the help of their governments, are increasingly taking up irrigation infrastructures to counter the problem. Water management systems used in irrigation practices are critical to the improvement of food availability in Africa.
In central Kenya, for example, farmers along seasonal rivers turn to solar-powered water pumps to irrigate their farms as it is a cheap and environmentally friendly method for water management. The Kenyan government has recently launched a 10,000-hectare irrigation project in the Turkana region through public-private partnerships so that irrigation equipment is available to farmers at subsidised prices.
According to the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, 90 per cent of food consumed in Kenya is produced by smallholder farmers, among which irrigation practices have increased from 400,000 to an estimated 700,000 in the past two years. The trend is similar to a global inclination throughout the rest of Africa and Asia as climate change increases the uncertainty of rainfall.
Technology-based innovation has also strengthened food security in Africa. The mobile phone has become a revolutionising game-changer in Nigerian agriculture practices. It is being used not only to deliver weather information, but also the allocation of seeds and fertilisers to smallholder farmers.
These home-grown solutions to address local challenges contribute to the economic development of the country. Ultimately, achieving food security in Africa is a major cornerstone to the peace and stability in the region.
While Africa did not benefit greatly from the post-war Green Revolution, the technological advancement that brought about ingenious solutions to African farmers can be the key to attain food sovereignty in Africa. This can only happen with the investments from the state level and private sector to empower smallholder farmers to boost the agriculture of the country.
Investment crucial to scale up agriculture
In a recent White paper report of the Malaysian Agricultural Biotechnology sector by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, self-sufficiency levels for agricultural produce in Malaysia have slowly risen. Part of this growth is contributed to the research and development activities from the biotechnology sector as well as the investments from the government into such efforts. The government has identified the sector as one of the key strategic sectors that will support the growth of the economy by leveraging on the strength of the country’s biodiversity and cost effective human capital.
In 2005, the country enacted the Malaysia Biotechnology Policy to achieve this growth. This is coupled with an allocation of more than RM2 billion under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to the biotechnology industry that would benefit agro-biotechnology research.
The prime minister, in his Budget 2013 speech, also announced the development and expansion of four new paddy granaries that will be located in Kota Belud, Batang Lupar, Rompin, and Pekan. A budget of RM147 million is allocated for the project. This effort will increase the total acreage of paddy granaries to 408,000 hectares and increase production by 104 tonnes from the current 1.8 million tonnes.
Malaysia, where self-sufficiency is at about 86 per cent when it comes to rice supply, is expected to strengthen its existing paddy granaries through an integrated and systematic paddy management system.
An additional RM120 million is also allocated for irrigation infrastructures. Fishermen in Malaysia are provided an incentive ranging from RM0.10 to RM0.20 per kilogramme of fish. This will encourage fish landings at licensed jetties nationwide.
While small farmers individually do not produce as much as large multinational agri-businesses, they remain crucial participants in food production and job creation. In Asia for example, the majority of the more than 200 million rice farmers cultivate less than two hectares of rice.
The future
Forecast of the future is far from comforting, with an expected lower output of maize production from the US, which is the world’s largest producer, as well as soybean and wheat from Russia in the coming year. The UN has also reported a jump in global food prices by 1.4 per cent in September to a six-month high as severe drought in the US cut grain harvests. Climate change is also affecting fisheries with a possible fall in fish stocks of up to 50 per cent in the coming decade.
High food prices pose a problem for governments around the world, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation issued a warning on the declining food security amid social turmoil in Syria and Yemen. Rising food prices have been a fundamental driver to the street revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
Unfortunately, the majority of the global society is still unaware of the great challenge it faces to feed the world sufficiently. Even more regrettable, a recent UN study showed that one third of food produced for human consumption goes to waste. According to ISAAA, in the next fifty years, the world will consume twice as much food compared to the beginning of agriculture 10,000 years ago.
There is a pressing need for collaborations in the local and global scale to invest in research towards a sustainable agriculture by combining technology and local tradition, and to improve resource management. This practice, also known as agroecology, requires the combination of the farmer’s ecological literacy of the local ecosystem and the enhancement of resources and technological innovation by the research community. This is necessary to keep the agriculture and fisheries practices inciting for the farmers or fishermen, and to encourage long-term productivity and efficiency, and spark a new form of ‘green revolution’.
