Challenge and Threats to Sustainable Food Production - Adequate Food for All - page 246

• Food needs are influenced by demographic change and income growth as

well as by culture and religion. Population increase and food insecurity are
increasingly concentrated in particular countries in the developing world.
Research that seeks to sustainably increase food production should take •

account of threats and challenges, among them water scarcity, land degra-
dation, climate change, energy insecurity, and loss of ecosystem services.
Most of these challenges are relatively more serious in developing coun-
tries. Even climate change is expected to negatively impact poor countries
in the tropics more than richer countries in temperate areas.
Agriculture will need technical, institutional, and policy innovations to •

achieve sustainable improvements in productivity, equity, and resilience
through advances in the management of energy, soils, water, livestock, and
crops. Some of these innovations are discussed in the following chapters.
A basic question is whether the innovations described in this topic will be •

adequate to meet the challenges of sustainable food production for the future.

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