In a keynote speech Lloyd Le Page, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, addresses what he feels it is going to take to avert a food crisis. The speech was delivered at the 79th International Fertilizer Association Annual Conference, Montreal 23rd – 25th May 2011.
Lloyd highlighted the factors that are leading to a food crisis and pointed to the alarming estimates that by 2050 we will need to double world food production to meet demand.
“…this [estimate] assumes that we can rapidly and cost-effectively distribute production, an option that is becoming increasingly expensive, produces higher carbon emissions, and is fraught with risk for governments trying to secure adequate food and incomes for both urban and rural poor”
He went on to define the task for the coming decades to:
“…ensure food security and improved livelihoods without sacrificing the availability of resources or jeopardizing fragile ecosystems…”
The conclusion was that a food crisis could be averted but it is going to require:
- Continued investments in research and technologies
- Holistic approaches that truly translate the advances from research into practice – and reach people and sectors where we have not interacted successfully in the past
- Investments and strategies to bring new talent into agricultural research and science
- And new collaborations … that create synergy and innovation, and those that can cross sector boundaries more effectively