Feeding the world – part 2

Louise Fresco, Professor, University of Amsterdam
Productivity growth has declined. This can be reversed quite quickly – for fertiliser, water, pesticide, seeds, soil use. The yield gap between best and worst is huge.

Matin Qaim, Professor, University of Goettingen
We can double productivity in agriculture at a global level.
There are 400 million small farms. High tech and small farms can live together including use of genetic modification.

Pascal Lamy, Director General, World Trade Organisation
Africa may well hold the key to global food security tomorrow. It has very low yields. In 30 years, Brazil has seen a miracle of improvement. Africa has gone backwards.
Contrary to some lobbyist views, a full assessment means trade in food becomes an environmental obligation as well as a moral obligation. Food must travel.
Two thirds of countries are net food importers. Two thirds of international food trade is in processed products, one third commodities.
5 countries produce 70% of the world’s rice. 3 countries account for 80% of soya beans. 5 countries are responsible for 70% of maize. 85% of soya exports come from 2 countries.

Paul Conway, Vice Chairman, Cargill
14-15% of food production is traded abroad. There will have to be more trade. Yet nearly 50 countries imposed food export bans after the 2008 financial downturn.
We’ve trained 2 million Chinese farmers.

Jim Borel, Executive Vice President, DuPont
70% of the world population will be urbanised by 2050.
A hungry man is ungovernable.
Farmers are rewarded on yield. We need to build in market mechanisms that reward better nutrition.

Jikun Huang, Director, Chinese Centre for Agricultural Policy
Water has been the largest component of Chinese agricultural investment in the past. China plans to invest $630 billion in water over the next 10 years.
China will be 99% self-sufficient for food in 2020.