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World Facing ‘Enormous’ Food Challenge as Water Scarcity Looms

By Alex Morales

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The world is facing an “enormous” challenge to feed a growing population because climate change is altering rainfall patterns and fresh water is becoming scarcer, the U.K. government’s top scientist said.

Governments need to boost spending on agricultural research and reconsider options such as genetically-modified foods, which have been historically rejected by consumers in Europe, John Beddington told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

“We have at the global level a genuine issue of world food shortage,” Beddington told lawmakers. “Can you feed 9 billion people by 2050 in some form of equitable and sustainable way?”

A 60 percent rise in food prices from early 2007 until mid- 2008 caused riots in countries including Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in June that as much as $20 billion a year was needed to invest in agriculture to tackle the issue.

The challenge is to grow more food, maybe 50 percent more in two decades “and doubling in four decades on less land because of urbanization, climate change and so on; with less water, and probably using less fertilizers and less pesticides” than before, Beddington said late yesterday. “It’s an enormous challenge.”

The problem for the U.K. is less pressing because the country is “relatively prosperous” and can buy food on the world market, the scientist said.

Genetically-Modified Crops

One challenge for European countries is to overcome aversion among consumers to genetically-modified, or GM, crops, he said. That aversion may be because when the technology was first used, its purpose was mainly to cut costs rather than solve “difficult problems” such as more frequent drought, saltier soils and declining rainfall, he said.

“GM is not the only answer but it may well be a part of an answer to a number of very difficult problems,” Beddington said. “If it can solve the problem, we need to be thinking about it.”

The scientist said the use of GM cotton in clothing is now “ubiquitous” and that GM foods are eaten in the U.S. and other nations outside Europe.

“I understand this is a behavioral response that something you put on your shoulders is a lot less of a concern than something you put in your mouth,” Beddington said. Still, “GM is being eaten widely throughout the world and we’ve not had indications of major problems.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 29, 2009 06:45 EST