Study: Asia faces food shortages by 2050
Posted on: Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 13:47 CDT
A study of Asian irrigation warns developing nations face food shortages by 2050 without major reforms in the way agriculture uses water.
The study, conducted by the International Water Management Institute and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, warns many developing nations face the politically risky prospect of having to import more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize they will need by 2050.
The study outlines three options for meeting the food needs of Asia's population, which is expected to expand by one and a half-billion people during the next 40 years. The options are to import large quantities of cereals from other regions, improve and expand rain-fed agriculture and boost the focus on irrigated farmlands.
Asia's food and feed demand is expected to double by 2050,
said Colin Chartres, director general of the IWMI. Relying on trade to meet a large part of this demand will impose a huge and politically untenable burden on the economies of many developing countries.
The report does not factor in climate change, which will likely make rainfall more erratic, modeling experts said, perhaps making even the study's pessimistic assumptions prove overly optimistic.
The report was presented Monday in Stockholm, Sweden.
Source: United Press International
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