The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has published a new agricultural outlook in which it calls for the adoption of more sustainable farming practices to meet challenges of food security in a resilient, environmentally conscious manner.

The FAO said that, while at present international agricultural commodity markets appear to have entered calmer conditions following the record highs of last year, food commodity prices are anticipated to remain on a higher plateau over the next decade, as demand increases but agricultural production stagnates. However, although FAO has suggested adopting low impact techniques to increase yields where they remain significantly below their potential, including areas of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the problem of hunger and food insecurity is increasingly seen as interlinked with inequitable resource distribution, lack of access to food and unsustainable consumption patterns.

Earlier this month, sustainable farming expert Dr Julia Wright of Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology and Food Security addressed delegates at the Royal Geographical Society’s Annual International Conference. She said that, although there is clear evidence that agroecology could address many of the problems identified by organisations including the FAO, belligerent and blinkered dominant ideologies are risking or undermining attempts to achieve global food security.

Dr Wright’s stance is increasingly being adopted by food policy and sustainable agriculture experts, including UN rapporteur Olivier De Schutter. Dr Wright said, “In Europe in general there is a lot of talk of 'sustainable intensification' - producing more food on the existing land area - and this would be a good approach if only it really were sustainable. Unfortunately, however, the term is being used to further industrialise agriculture and this should really just be called what it is - pure intensification with no sustainability. For real sustainable intensification we need only to employ permaculture style approaches - it’s not technically difficult but the challenge remains in people's worldviews and belief systems."

The UN report, released last Wednesday (11th July), suggests that more unsustainable dietary patterns, population growth, higher per capita incomes and increasing production of biofuel feedstocks are putting pressure on world food production and farmers’ ability to feed the world.  

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook states that more equitable economic practices, the wider implementation of low impact agriculture and measures to combat waste, potentially the most serious problem inherent in the current food system, will all lead towards food security. Commenting on the report, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said, "Increased productivity, green-growth and more open markets will be essential if the food and nutrition requirements of future generations are to be met. Governments should renounce trade-distorting practices and create an enabling environment for a thriving and sustainable agriculture underpinned by improved productivity. This Outlook provides further important analysis and recommendations to governments."

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva added, "For consumers, especially for the millions of people living in extreme poverty, high food prices have caused considerable hardship. We need to redouble our efforts to bring down the number of hungry people. We must focus on increasing sustainable productivity growth, especially in developing countries, and especially for small producers."

Graziano da Silva last week announced the launch of an FAO office to increase liaisons with agricultural cooperatives, which he described as “A key partner in achieving food security and ending hunger and poverty in the world.”

Nevertheless, there are serious problems which could affect moves towards achieving food security, even if measures are put in place immediately; the Outlook report notes that 25 percent of all agricultural land is highly degraded. Critical water scarcity in agriculture is a fact for many countries, and is predicted to worsen as climate change takes effect. Furthermore, there is a growing consensus that extreme weather events are already becoming more frequent and climatic patterns are changing in many parts of the world.

The report, which takes a market approach to the problems the world faces, states that there is a need to develop national investment schemes and increased development assistance to agriculture for research and development, innovation adoption and infrastructure development. While it looks to the private sector to deliver many of its recommended changes, it also calls on governments of developing countries in particular to promote agricultural infrastructure investment in rural areas to improve storage, transportation, information and communication systems and irrigation.

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