Agriculture in the Sahara desert (Smara, S.W. Algeria) – Production of vegetables applying the soil conditioner TerraCottem – UNICEF project (Photo credit Eng. Taleb BRAHIM 2009-04)

Sustainable food production: Facts and figures

• Soil damage, climate change, water and energy availability are all challenges for farming
• S&T have made key contributions to increasing food production, but new strategies are needed
• Sustainable agriculture can benefit from ‘system’ approaches and farmers’ participation

EXCERPT

Advances in agricultural science and technology (S&T) have contributed to remarkable increases in food production since the mid-twentieth century. Global agriculture has grown 2.5–3 times over the last 50 years. [1] This has let food production keep pace with human population growth so that, overall, there are enough calories produced per capita. However, progress toward reducing hunger is variable across the world.

Hunger and malnutrition affect every aspect of human development and persist for various reasons including unequal…