[LUM#7] A world to feed
How can we ensure satisfactory food supplies for an ever-expanding population while preserving the planet? A challenge to be met today, to guarantee food security tomorrow.
The women have planted vetiver along the riverbank and then planted it along a stone cordon to reinforce it. IRD - Tiphaine Chevallier
9.8 billion. That's how many people will inhabit our beautiful planet by 2050. A galloping demography that raises a real challenge: how to feed ever more people? The real challenge is not simply to feed them," adds Patrick Caron, a CIRAD researcher, " but to ensure long-term food security. In other words, the ability to feed oneself properly. " Food security covers the availability of food, access to it - in other words, the ability to produce or buy one's own food - and the quality of the food, in nutritional, health, sensory and socio-cultural terms. All this must be ensured on a regular basis ", explains the Chairman of the High-Level Panel of Experts of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security(HLPE).
Triple burden
This ideal is far from being achieved: food problems of all kinds are affecting the whole world. " We're facing a triple burden," explains Patrick Caron. Firstly, famine: 800 million people do not have enough to eat. " This situation is exacerbated by climate change and conflicts ," he points out (Agriculture and climate change: an unavoidable marriage of conveniencein Les agricultures face au changement climatique vol 27, 2018). Second burden: 2 billion of the planet's inhabitants suffer from what is known as hidden hunger. " A deficiency in micronutrients - zinc, iron, iodine, vitamins A and B - that cannot ensure good health ". And finally, 2 billion people worldwide suffer from overweight or obesity, a condition that carries with it an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer.
How can we combat these scourges? In the 20th century, the problem seemed simple: "The answer to the question 'how do we feed everyone' was 'we have to produce more '". The key word then: intensification. Welcome to the " green revolution ". " While this mode of production did indeed make it possible to keep pace with population growth, we now know that the fertilizer- and fossil fuel-intensive route is not viable ", stresses the researcher. It's not simply a question of producing more, but above all of producing better. " Producing high-quality food while preserving the environment and ensuring a decent income for farmers is the real challenge," explains Patrick Caron.
At the heart of sustainable development issues
A challenge that places food security at the heart of sustainable development issues. " It 's not just a question of producing enough, but of producing and consuming in a way that contributes to sustainable development. And that means taking environmental issues into account first and foremost. " In the 1990s, agriculture and the environment were enemies, but then we tried to reconcile them," explains Patrick Caron. Avoiding land degradation, maintaining biodiversity and avoiding contributing to climate change are all challenges for an agriculture that has yet to be reinvented (Reconciling biodiversity conservation and food security: scientific challenges for a new agriculturein Current opinion environmental sustainability, 2010). " Reconciling is good, but not enough. We need to do better than that, by using agriculture as a lever to safeguard the environment ", explains Patrick Caron. For example? " In livestock farming, the use of grassland has the advantage of sequestering carbon, thereby limiting greenhouse gas emissions ", illustrates the researcher.
Local solutions for global food
"With agroecology, we're rediscovering that we can limit the use of chemical fertilizers and choose to imitate nature by stimulating its biological cycles," stresses Patrick Caron. And produce enough food to feed nearly 10 billion people? Yes, but only if we implement local solutions that require a great deal of design and engineering work," explains Patrick Caron. We need to ensure that these local transformations are consistent with a global challenge.
Consume better
And for the planet to benefit, it's not enough to produce better. " It's also essential to consume better to contribute to sustainable development," insists Patrick Caron. In particular, by limiting losses and waste, which account for an average of 30% of food in most countries. But also by consuming high-quality products that promote good health and limit public health costs. " In the case of overweight and obesity, it's the whole food environment that's at stake, and all the factors that influence consumer choice need to be taken into account ", explains the expert.
"The issue of food security is a real Rubik's cube, with so many facets to consider," illustrates Patrick Caron. The grail: " meet the needs of everyone according to their preferences, while taking into account the social, environmental and health footprints of what we consume ". A goal that requires us to redesign the planet, with 10 billion people of good will.
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