Food Wasted, Food Lost

Another initiative that would reduce the pressure on global cropland, as well as free up food is to shift crop production towards primarily producing food for human consumption. Today 30 to 40 per cent of all cereals produced are used for animal feed, and it is anticipated that by 2050 as much as 50 per cent may be needed (Nellemann et al. 2009). According toCassidy et al. (2013), shifting the production of crops for animal feed and biofuels towards crops for direct human consumption could theoretically increase available food calories by as much as 70 per cent, which could feed an additional 4 billion people. Food waste represents one alternative that to some extent can replace crop-based animal feed (FAO 2013c). While it is still a much debated topic on the industrial level there are examples of countries where it is practiced. In Japan for example, the so called Food Recycling Law of 2007 encourages food-related businesses to convert all food waste to animal feed or fertilizers (FAO 2013c). Identifying safe ways to capture and convert food waste to animal feed provides great opportunities for improving future food supplies as well as minimizing the global environmental footprint. Restoring forest for food security Ensuring that forest ecosystems are preserved and restored while simultaneously producing enough food for a growing population is a key challenge to sustainability (Lambin and Meyfroidt 2010). Historically, forests have to a great extent been cleared to increase food production. According to Kissinger et al. (2010) agriculture is the key driver to as much as 80 per cent of deforestation. While recent findings reveal that

development assistance and a land market was developed, which suggested a positive learning process and a green economy- thinking that became self-driven (Charles et al. 2010). Another study of 286 agricultural sustainability projects in developing countries, involving 12.6 million smallholder farmers on 37 million hectares, found an average yield increase of 79 per cent across a very wide variety of systems and crop types while at the same time increasing the supply of ecosystem services (Pretty et al. 2006). The farmers used a variety of resource-conserving technologies and practices including integrated pest management, integrated nutrient management, conservation tillage, agroforestry, aquaculture in farm systems and water harvesting, as well as livestock integration. A conservative estimate suggest that if a quarter of the 560million hectares of degraded agricultural land (Oldeman 1992) were restored, the food calorie increase could feed up to 740 million people. 2 While the actual numbers may be lower, as production potential varies, these rough estimates suggest a highly and vastly unexplored opportunity for boosting food availability locally, especially as regions with wide prevalence of food insecurity are also often characterized by extensive land degradation. 2. The estimate is based on a modest production of 1.925 tonnes of cereal per hectare, equivalent to 50 per cent of the current global average (FAO 2014c), a calorie value of 3 million kcal per tonne, a daily calorie need of 3000 kcal and 365 days a year.

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