8.2 Magnitude, Distribution, and Structure of Food Provision......... 213 8.2.1 Structure and Distribution of Food Provision 8.2.2 Distribution of and Trends in Domesticated and Wild Food Production (original) (raw)

Main Messages Despite the fact that food production per capita has been increasing globally, major distributional inequalities exist. Global food production has increased by 168% over the past 42 years. The production of cereals has increased by about 130%, but that is now growing more slowly. Nevertheless, an estimated 852 million people were undernourished in 2000-02, up 37 million from the period 1997-99. Of this total, nearly 96% live in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the largest share of undernourished people, is also the region where per capita food production has lagged the most. Rising incomes, urbanization, and shifting consumption patterns have increased per capita food consumption in most areas of the world. Food preferences, including those arising from cultural differences, are important drivers of food provision. As incomes have increased in regions such as East and Southeast Asia, so has demand for high-value products such as livestock and fish, but cereals are likely to remain the major single component of global diets and to occupy the predominant share of cultivated land. A diverse diet, with sufficient protein, oils and fats, micronutrients, and other dietary factors is as important for well-being as access to and consumption of sufficient calories. Average daily energy (calorific) intake has declined recently in the poorest countries. Inadequate energy intake is exacerbated by the fact that poor people tend to have low-quality diets. The world's poorest rely on starchy staples for energy, which leads to significant protein, vitamin, and mineral deficiencies. Overconsumption is also a health problem. Nutritional status and children's growth rates improve with consumption of greater food diversity, particularly of fruits and vegetables. A global epidemic of diet-related obesity and noncommunicable disease is emerging as increasingly urbanized people adopt diets that are higher in energy and lower in diversity in fruits and vegetables than traditional diets (known as the nutrition transition). Many countries now face the double burden of diet-related disease: the simultaneous challenges of significant incidence of acute, communicable diseases in undernourished populations and increasing incidence of chronic diseases associated with the overweight and obese. An increasing number of people everywhere suffer from diseases caused by contaminated food. As the world eats more perishable foods such as meat, milk, fish, and eggs, the risk of food-borne illnesses is increasing. The relative health risks from food vary by climate, diet, income, and public infrastructure. Food of animal origin poses health risks particularly when it is improperly prepared or inadequately refrigerated. Microbial contamination is of special concern in developing countries. Non-microbial contaminants include metals and persistent organic pollutants. Other growing health concerns related to food production are diseases passed from animals to humans (zoonoses), toxin-containing animal wastes, and overuse of antibiotics in livestock production that may cause allergies or render human antibiotics less effective. Local food production is critical to eliminating hunger and promoting rural development in areas where the poor do not have the capacity to purchase food from elsewhere. The number of food-insecure people is growing fastest in developing regions, where underdeveloped market infrastructures and limited access to resources prevent food needs from being satisfied by international trade alone. In these areas, local food production is critical to eliminating hunger and providing insurance against rising food prices. In addition, rural households gain income and employment from engaging in food provision enterprises. In sub-Saharan Africa, two thirds of the population relies on agriculture or agriculture-related activities for their livelihoods. Maintaining a focus on raising the productivity of food production systems continues to be a priority for both global food security and environmental sustainability. While major cereal staples are likely to continue as the foundation of the human food supply, some doubts are being raised about our ability to reproduce past yield growth in the future-especially with regard to sustaining rates of yield growth in high-productivity systems that are already producing near the yield potential threshold, as well as in terms of the availability of land that is suitable for sustaining expanded food output needs.