Q & A

The solution might seem simple: grow more. But that alone won't be enough.

We already produce enough food for 10 billion people - enough for everyone alive today and two billion yet unborn.

But across the world, more than one in nine people are chronicallySomething negative that lasts for a long time (such as an illness). hungry.

Why? There are two main reasons. First, roughly 30 to 40% of all food is wasted, often because developing countries lack then infrastructure to refrigerate food. By the time it arrives at local markets, most of it is spoiled or lost.

And the global population is growing fastest in areas where food is already scarce.

While numbers start ton stagnateStop developing; become inactive or dull. Usually to describe water or air, when it ceases to flow or move. or even decline in developed nations, high birth rates mean that one billion more people will live in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050.

Second, only 55% of crop calories go to feed people directly. The rest is grain for cattle and chickens.

As countries like India and China grow more prosperous, their middle classes are demanding richer diets of meat and eggs.

This means we'll need yet more grain for livestock, while food is diverted away from the humans who need it most.

The climate crisis complicates the picture. Aside from destroying biodiversityBiodiversity is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area - the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life. and polluting the environment, agriculture accounts for about 14% of global greenhouse gasGases in the Earth's atmosphere that trap heat, contributing to global warming. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour are all greenhouse gases. emissions, which are rapidly heating the planet.

Droughts and floods, crop failures, soil erosion... The effects are already being felt.

The worst affected, in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, will be those least responsible: the 10 hungriest nations contribute only 0.08% of global emissions.

So, how can we feed our planet's growing population without destroying the planet?

According to National Geographic, high-tech precision farming techniques will rapidly increase yields, giving us more food without the need to expand.

Meanwhile, farmers in hot climates will have ton diversifyTo vary the range of products. their crops as maize and rice struggle to grow in rising temperatures.

But, above all, we must free up food by switching our diets away from grain-fed meat to plants, which take up less space and produce less emissions. Will it work?

No. The obstacles facing us are vast. We must get everyone - India and China, as much as the West - to stop eating meat. We must build a huge "cold train" network in developing countries to keep food refrigerated (which will be expensive and produce more carbon dioxide), all while reducing emissions to halt the destruction of our planet.

Yes. Tech is already being used to make more 'green' food, and developments are accelerating. India, for example, is investing in methods that will lead to less food waste. Chinese investment in Africa will bring the same benefits there. It will be a huge project requiring much investment and the re-imagining of the food industry - but we have all the tools to feed everyone.

What do we know? Over 820 million people are going hungry, which amounts to one in every nine. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight. Of these, over 650 million adults were obese. Around 13% of the world's adult population is obese. In seven sub-Saharan African countries, more than 35% of the population do not have enough to eat.

What do we not know? Whether agriculture will ever be able to be environmentally sustainable while providing all the food we need to save the planet. "Dietary change is essential if global warming is not to exceed 2C," a major Chatham House report concluded in 2014. In terms of biodiversity, almost two-thirds of mammals on Earth are livestock (mostly cows and pigs).