The world population has already surpassed 8 billion. Every night, up to 828 million people go to bed hungry. 345 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity. By 2050, 9.7 billion people are anticipated to inhabit the planet. The amount of food we currently produce falls well short of what will be required to feed the world’s population in 2050. Food production will need to increase by almost 60% to fulfill this rapidly expanding demand, which would necessitate the development of 593 million additional hectares of agricultural land. Meanwhile, almost one-third of all food produced worldwide is lost or wasted from production to consumption. That is a glaring example of the ineffectiveness of the current food systems in a world where hundreds of millions of people suffer from hunger. Food waste and losses frequently result in financial losses for farmers and other stakeholders as well as higher prices for consumers, both of which have an impact on food insecurity by limiting access to food for marginalized people.
With a surge in the number of people to feed, natural resources such as land, water and forest are being overstrained on one hand while climate change is posing a threat to our food system on the other. The agricultural expansion was responsible for roughly 90% of worldwide deforestation between 2000 and 2018. This has a detrimental effect on related ecosystem services including biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from “Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use” have roughly doubled over the previous 50 years, and predictions indicate they will rise even more by 2050. The sector is accountable for 21% of the total global GHG emissions. The majority of the world’s emissions of nitrous oxide and methane come from agriculture. On the flip side, climate change inevitably has a negative impact on crop productivity. Reduced crop yields are predicted as a result of rising precipitation variability, daytime temperatures exceeding a certain crop-specific level and an increase in the frequency of droughts and floods.
With the increasing trend of urbanization, currently, around 54% of the global population resides in urban areas. More than two-thirds of the world’s population may live in cities by the year 2050. The demand for meat and processed foods is increasing as urban populations consume higher-protein foods, which expands the usage of land for livestock production, speeds up deforestation, and raises agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the world is projected to become demographically older in the upcoming decades. Rural areas typically experience earlier onset and faster progression of aging than national averages would suggest. Likewise, farmers’ populations, which are primarily rural, are aging rapidly. The average age of farmers is about 60 worldwide including in developing nations. And the big question is who will continue feeding the world after this generation of veteran farmers retires? Only a few young people envision a future in agriculture as it is perceived as an unappealing career.
Although the journey may not appear to be straightforward, it is still possible to develop food and agricultural systems in a way that is egalitarian, sustainable, and can accommodate rising demand. There is no single panacea to address the issues related to sustainable food and agriculture, but there are some remedies that can be applied simultaneously based on the nature and extent of the problems. Some of them are mentioned here:
- By making it quicker and less expensive to map the genetic codes of plants, screen for desirable DNA features, purify crop strains, and turn genes on and off, recent developments in molecular biology hold enormous potential for increased yield gains. An increase in public and private crop-breeding expenditures must be made, especially for “orphan crops” like millet and yam which are nutritious but not traded internationally. Similarly, the domestication and cultivation of edible wild plants should be promoted from the food policy level.
- Farmers must be encouraged and well-trained to adopt soil and water management techniques to increase agricultural yields in locations with deteriorated soils, particularly in drylands and low-carbon regions. For instance, agroforestry, or the cultivation of trees on farms and pastures, can increase yields and aid in the regeneration of damaged land.
- Food production can be increased without the need for new land by planting and harvesting existing croplands more frequently, either by decreasing fallow land or by increasing “double cropping” (growing two crops annually). When considering water, emissions, and other environmental restrictions, researchers should do more spatially detailed assessments to identify the regions where cropping intensity increases are most practical.
- In some circumstances, converting abandoned or underutilized agricultural fields back into forests or other natural habitats may be the most efficient use of land. This can lessen the impact of agriculture’s inevitable extension to other regions. Only low-productivity agricultural land with limited room for improvement should be employed for this.
- Consumer awareness should be raised to make shifts to healthier, sustainable diets. The most widely consumed ruminant meat, beef, requires a lot of resources to produce; it takes up 20 times as much land and emits 20 times as much greenhouse gas (GHG) per gram of digestible protein as typical plant proteins like beans, peas, and lentils. Marketing of plant-based foods should be promoted and meat alternatives should be developed.
- A quarter of the food that is produced for human use is wasted. Losses and waste happen at every step of the food chain, from farm to table. Measuring food waste, setting reduction goals, enhancing food storage in developing nations, and streamlining expiration labeling are all necessary actions.
- Without climate change adaptation measures, crop yields worldwide are predicted to fall by at least 5% by 2050. Developing crops to withstand higher temperatures through breeding, setting up water conservation systems, and altering production systems where significant climate change would make it difficult to cultivate particular crops are all necessary components of adaptation. Likewise, agricultural practices and productivity should be connected with environmental conservation efforts.
- Globally, less than half of the nitrogen added as fertilizer is absorbed by crops, with the remainder either lost as runoff or released into the atmosphere. In order to increase nitrogen use efficiency, which is the proportion of applied nitrogen that is absorbed by crops, fertilizers and their management—or the composition of the fertilizers themselves—must be improved. This will increase the rate of nitrogen uptake and decrease the amount of fertilizer required.
- Improving ruminant productivity minimizes methane emissions as more milk and meat are produced per kilogram of feed. Furthermore, emissions can be significantly reduced by refining manure management through better liquid-solid separation, methane capture, and other techniques.
- Rice cultivation techniques that use fewer resources and emit fewer emissions should be used. For instance, reducing water levels during field floods can slow the development of bacteria that produce methane. In some fields, this approach can increase rice harvests and save water while reducing emissions by up to 90%. Additionally, some varieties of rice produce less methane.
- Fundamentals of agriculture should be incorporated compulsorily in the course of school. Agriculture i.e., feeding the world should be advocated as a dignified profession to people from a small age so that the ageing farmers’ population can be replaced by young enthusiastic farmers. Teenagers and youth should be encouraged to engage in farming activities not merely as a career but as a way of living.
- Overall, there is a need for a global transformational process and concerted efforts that comprise all stakeholders, including governments, international organizations, private producers and consumers, research and academic institutions, as well as civil society organizations to attain sustainable agriculture and food system.