Integrated land and water management for food and environmental security

Water resource management / Food security / Environmental effects / Soil degradation / Water pollution / Watersheds / Urbanization / Public policy / Water quality / Ecosystems / Land resources / Water scarcity / Developing countries / Poverty / Households / Food supply / Economic aspects / Social aspects / Groundwater depletion / Salinity / Wetlands / Investment / Land use / Water use / Training needs assessment / Research priorities

Biophysical limits to global food production

Global food production, so far, has increased continuously because cropped area has expanded and productivity per unit area has increased. In some regions of the world, however, there is little scope for further spatial expansion of agriculture. In other areas, crop yields are stagnating. Does this imply that the world is approaching the biophysical limits of food production? In this research nine food-demand scenarios were analyzed, ranging from minimum population growth combined with a vegetarian diet to maximum population growth combined with an affluent diet containing an ample amount of animal products. With an environment-oriented agriculture, all regions can produce the food required even for an affluent diet, except for East, South, and Southeast Asia; the three regions with the least leeway will carry almost half of the global population. West Asia and West and North Africa come close to the lower limit. A much less expensive diet provides the only option for escape, apart from massive food imports. Europe, the former U.S.S.R., North America, Oceania, South America, and Central Africa are well-off and need only part of their suitable land to feed their populations whatever their diet. However, if trade can distribute food efficiently across the globe, all people may consume an affluent diet, but at the expense of intensive use of two-thirds of the globe for arable crops and rangeland.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2020DG

Identifying Technological Potentials

The potential for food production in sub-Saharan Africa far exceeds current production. Low soil fertility is among the principal causes of low yields. Intensification of agriculture and further expansion of the cropped area requires more external inputs, which often are not available to the rural farmer or are too expensive. As a result, yields per unit area are not increasing, area expansion occurs slowly, and food production grows at a slower rate than the population.PRIFPRI