Food prices have risen sharply over the past few years. The good news is that the rate of increase has slowed. The bad news is that prices will not go down anytime soon. Also,the rate of global agricultural production is slowing. Yet it needs to increase 60% over the next 40 years to feed a growing world population. These are among the findings from the OECDFAO(the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development & the Food and Agriculture Organization)Agricultural Outlook 2012-2021. FAO DirectorGeneral Jose Graziano da Silva spoke at a news conference in Rome when the report was released. Mr.Da Silva said that,not surprisingly,the world's poorest people will feel the greatest effects of higher prices. "For the millions and millions of extremely poor people, the effects of high food prices are clear--they might have to change their diets,usually to ones with poorer nutrition quality, "he said. In middleincome countries, people are gaining weight as they eat fewer fruits and vegetables and more of the cheaper but less nutritious foods. The report also shows that farmers in poorer countries will be leading efforts to feed an expected 9,000,000,000 people by 2050.The outlook predicts that farmers in Latin America,the Caribbean and subSaharan Africa will drive agricultural production in the future. Angel Gurria,SecretaryGeneral of the OECD,said:"We can feed 9,000,000,000 people by 2050 on this planet. But we have to organize ourselves better." But there are plenty of challenges.Onefourth of all agricultural land is damaged. Many countries face water shortages .And experts believe climate change is driving increasingly unusual weather patterns. The report says farmers need to use more growing methods that can't cause damage to the environment.At the same time,it says governments should end economically harmful supports and spend more money to increase agricultural production.Mr.Gurria says rich and poor nations need to treat agriculture more like a business. "In many cases,agriculture is related in people's minds to the poorest. It's related to aid. It's related to very poor living conditions,etc. We have got to shake that image away,"he said. What can be done to deal with the slow agricultural production?
Improving the growing methods. Finding more agricultural land. Preventing governments' involvement. Improving farmers' living conditions.