Population explosion vs. food resources crunch BBC Radio 4

woodpecker · Post by **woodpecker** » 24 Jan 2011, 10:02

On the Today programme this morning.

I was still a bit sleepy, so didn't take in who had published the report they were referring to.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 24 Jan 2011, 10:08

So was I, but it was a discussion between an Indian bloke who reckoned that the world produces enough food for 11 billion people but 40% is wasted, starvation is caused by politics, and people who want to produce more food actually want to push GM. The other bloke was arguing that population is the problem, and didn't mention GM. No idea who they were though. Maybe someone more awake will be along soon!

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 24 Jan 2011, 10:22

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/ne ... 371410.stm

and

"A recent government study has stated there is a risk of global hunger unless something is done to avert it. Devinder Sharma, who chairs the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security and Roger Martin, of the Optimum Population Trust, discuss what should be done to prevent the crisis. "

Ludwig · Post by **Ludwig** » 24 Jan 2011, 13:39

I get the impression that Indians are even more blithe about the world's problems than Westerners. You can understand it: they're still giddy from their new-found relative affluence, and they can hardly imagine that such a dramatic and welcome change of national fortune might be very short-lived.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 24 Jan 2011, 14:33

India is going to hit a population bottleneck sometime fairly soon.

This will destroy the country as a modern industrial society.

However, it will barely register in the 3+ millennia old history of Indian culture and society. At least half of all Indians will not miss what they never had.

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 24 Jan 2011, 15:19

I caught bits of that, and found what I heard unbelievably ostrichlike.

"We need to tackle food waste to begin with" someone said. Oh good, I thought, some sense being talked... he went on

"food waste in Mozambique - where much of what's grown doesn't make it to market because the roads are bad, so we need to invest in the roads"

And I thought, what? WHAT? What about food waste right here? In your fridge? on your plate? in your bin?

And I waited in vain for mention of small-scale agriculture... no, it's GM monoculture that's going to save us all, apparently. Although it was also said that:

"shortages of land, fresh water and energy may put increasing pressures on food supplies..."

MAY put increasing pressures... that's like cutting your head off and calling it a little scratch.

I left the house spluttering incoherently this morning after that.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 24 Jan 2011, 16:24

I'm glad I didn't hear that. I'd probably have spontaneously combusted. I've really gone off the OPT...they're just a load of well-off old 1stworld blokes trying to tell us that something, anything, else but well-off old 1stworld blokes is the cause of the world's problems.

nexus · Post by **nexus** » 24 Jan 2011, 18:54

RenewableCandy wrote:I'm glad I didn't hear that. I'd probably have spontaneously combusted. I've really gone off the OPT...they're just a load of well-off old 1stworld blokes trying to tell us that something, anything, else but well-off old 1stworld blokes is the cause of the world's problems.

yeah- funny that.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 24 Jan 2011, 19:27

This report was published today:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/foresight/our-wor ... blications

The Foresight project Global Food and Farming Futures final report and executive summary provide an overview of the evidence and discuss the challenges and choices for policy makers and others whose interests relate to all aspects of the global food system.

Not sure if it is the same one as discussed on the radio.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 26 Jan 2011, 01:08

I've just listened to the reports and didn't think the second one was that bad. Yes, there is a problem with food distribution in Africa, as in the rest of the world, that could help with overcoming shortages but how to overcome the problem. Do you move the population out of the cities again, somehow. The people have only just moved there because there's nothing for them to do in the country. Try getting them back again. Either the food has to go to the cities or the work has to go to the country (some will say "What work?") but either way transport of some sort is required otherwise we transport food from the US as aid.

Sharma was saying that people pushing more food production are doing so to promote GM production and I think he could have a point there. Yes, TC, we, in the global North, do waste a lot of food but that all contributes to economic growth, believe it or not. There's not much incentive to reduce waste of a dirt cheap commodity (not saying that it's right). Producing more, on the other hand, contributes to growth so is a good idea especially if it promotes sales of the US's favourite company, Monsanto.

India needs to control its population because it is increasing food supply by mining water from aquifers that are drying up and becoming salinated, especially in the main grain growing region, the Punjab. You can import fertility, temporarily, using fertilisers but you can't import water in agricultural quantities. India has no option, if it is to feed itself in the future, but to control its population.

The increasing tendency of the poorer world to eat more meat will be limited as food and fuel prices rise. As most intensively produced meat uses grain as a feedstuff, the increasing cost of fuel will put grain prices up and so meat, milk and egg prices will go up disproportionately as well.