What will it take to feed the world in the future?
That was the question posed by Qu Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, at last week’s Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, part of the World Food Prize celebration.
“We have to grow enough food to feed a growing population with less inputs while safeguarding the environment,” he said. “We have to ensure that the food is safe, nutritious, diverse, and healthy, and that it reaches all the people who need it most through affordable and reliable suppliers.”
Qu said FAO refers to “the four betters” when establishing strategies to meet those goals, asking if proposed solutions will provide:
Better production
Better nutrition
A better environment
A better life
Better Production
Qu pointed out that Normal Borlaug’s work laid the groundwork for reducing hunger through improved production.
“His high yielding, disease-resistant wheat is credited with saving an estimated one billion lives,” Qu said. “He used science to demonstrate that hunger is not inevitable, and through this innovation, ensured that farmers could improve their productivity.”
Qu said that during his 25-year career as a scientist, he met with Borlaug multiple times. During their last meeting in August 2006, he said they discussed the challenges of getting food to those who need it.
“Better production must include a targeted investment in infrastructure and the governance capacity in fragile regions,” Qu said. “Without equitable access to the input and functional supply chains, high-yield technology cannot truly reach those who need it most and benefit the most vulnerable people.”
Better Nutrition
“Dr. Borlaug showed the world how to grow enough food by increased yield,” Qu said. “This year’s World Food Prize laureate, Huub Lelieveld, spent his career on the second question: Is the food we are growing safe to eat and providing better nutrition?”
Lelieveld founded the Global Harmonization Initiative, which focuses on instituting consistent, research-based food safety regulations around the world. According to the World Food Prize, his work has helped prevent millions of cases of food-born illness, dismantled barriers to trade and humanitarian aid, and reduced food loss and waste.
Qu cited FAO research showing unsafe food causes 866 million illnesses and 1.5 million deaths each year, and costs low- and middle-income countries an estimated $110 billion per year in lost productivity and medical expenses. Still, he said, food safety issues aren’t confined by borders, which is why FAO shares Lelieveld’s goal of harmonizing food safety standards globally.
A Better Environment
Qu said population growth, climate extremes, and competition for land and water are putting pressure on the agri-food system.
“We have to produce more and better while protecting the land, water, and biodiversity that future harvests depend on,” he said. “The better environment objective aims to reduce the environmental footprint of the food system and promote regenerative technologies and practices.”
The FAO also lists mitigating climate change and achieving sustainable urban food systems as goals for a better environment.
A Better Life
Inclusive economic growth is needed to improve the quality of life for people around the world, Qu said.
To that end, FAO is working to reduce inequalities between urban and rural areas, rich and poor countries, and men and women.
Qu said success in this category is, “measurable not by what is harvest but by what is equitably reachable at every table.”
He said: “To feed the future, we need to advance the four betters from design to deliverable, from field to fork, from principle to prosperity. This carries forward Dr. Norman Borlaug’s mission of taking science to farmers. And this is the World Food Prize’s lifelong.
conviction: Accessibility to safe food is a universal right.”
Published By: Ajayi Oluwaseun Michael.
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