Crop Diversity: A Solution for Today’s Hunger Crisis and Food Security Tomorrow

11 December 2024

The world is facing three major food challenges, all at the same time. We need to produce more food, significantly improve its quality, and ensure that everyone has access to it.

Food security for all is the challenge of the 21st century. Estimates suggest that as our population grows, global demand for food will increase by 50 to 60 percent by 2050.

At the same time, some people are getting plenty of food – even too much – while many others are going hungry. We actually produce enough food for everyone, yet many people do not have sufficient access to it, often because they cannot afford it. Around 735 million people go to bed hungry each night. That’s one out of 11 people in the world, and one out of every five in Africa.

On top of that, an estimated two billion people suffer from “hidden hunger”. Approximately 50% of preschool-age children and two-thirds of women who can be mothers have at least one micronutrient deficiency. These deficiencies impact growth, immune function and cognitive development, of both this and the next generation.

Insufficient food and poor nutrition cause health problems and personal suffering. They also mean missed development opportunities for societies as a whole. Only when children have enough to eat, can they learn and grow to their full potential. Only when adults eat enough, can they fully participate in social and economic activity. Countries that do not invest in good and balanced nutrition for their children today will have no chance of prosperity tomorrow.

More and better food must be produced for everyone, but our ability to do so is increasingly constrained, and this is due in large part to land degradation, desertification, and climate change.

Globally, around one-third of land is degraded. In severely affected areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, soil erosion can reduce crop yields by 30 to 50 percent. All over the world, the decline in the biological and economic productivity of land and its components – soil, water and biodiversity – is accelerating.

Agricultural areas marked by persistent water stress are susceptible to desertification, the severest form of land degradation and so predominant in the world's drylands. Desertification already threatens almost one-third of the global land area and impacts about 500 million people. With agriculture using 70 percent of the world’s freshwater, this will only worsen.

These problems will dramatically increase as the climate changes further. Agricultural output will suffer due to higher average temperatures, extended heat waves, more flooding, shifting precipitation patterns, and saltwater inundating coastal fields.

But there is a solution. A solution that is right in front of our eyes, but that we all too often ignore or take for granted – crop diversity.

Diverse agricultural landscapes are more resilient and sustainable. Growing more types of crops often means more diverse and balanced diets, and better health. And we can also use the diversity within crops to develop new varieties that can better withstand drought, high temperatures, and poor soils. Plant breeders can tap into the astonishing crop diversity stored in genebanks to create new crops and agricultural systems that remain productive and nutritious in the face of increasing climate pressure.

This means farmers in regions vulnerable to desertification, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, can grow crops with reliable yields and excellent nutritional content even as climates shift. The stability of these food sources is crucial for feeding growing populations and reducing dependence on imports, especially in regions where food insecurity is already high.

Crop diversity can also address the root causes of desertification. Better adapted, more productive crops can reduce the pressure to expand agriculture into natural areas, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, curbing soil erosion and promoting biodiversity. Crops bred for more efficient nutrient use can reduce the need for fertilizers, which are costly and cause greenhouse gas emissions and soil depletion. Drought-tolerant crops require less irrigation and conserve water, a precious resource in arid regions. Along with sustainable agricultural practices, crop diversity enables farming that reduces environmental degradation and promotes ecological balance, while delivering the nutrition we all need.

Genebanks store and make available millions of samples of the diversity of thousands of plant species worldwide. They offer the ultimate safeguard against climate change and desertification. These collections ensure that crop diversity is available to farmers, researchers, and breeders over the long term.

Investing in the conservation and availability of crop diversity in genebanks is an investment in a resilient, food-secure future. In an era of unprecedented social, environmental and climate challenges, conserving crop diversity offers a tangible, ready-to-use solution to sustainably feeding the growing global population, forever.

Governments meet this year in Saudi Arabia for the COP16 UN Convention to Combat Desertification Conference. The Kingdom is eager to emphasize that desertification is not just a problem in areas with an arid climate like its own, but affects vulnerable lands throughout the world.

At COP16 Riyadh, I urge all governments to address this vulnerability and work toward a future where food and nutritional security is achieved without sacrificing environmental health.

Support for the conservation and sustained availability of crop diversity in genebanks is a powerful lever to achieve sustainable, resilient agriculture and address desertification. Invest in crop diversity today and take a step to ensure everyone has enough to eat tomorrow, and for generations to come.

 

This opinion piece was first published on Stefan Schmitz's LinkedIn. Follow him on LinkedIn for similar content.

Categories: For The Press, For Policymakers, Genebanks, Climate Change, Environmental Restoration, Sustainable Agriculture