...population along with financial crisis generated a chronic food shortage all around the globe. Despite these adversities, Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, saved billions of lives by introducing an exceptionally vital genetically modified organism (GMO). Not only had this eminent GMO diminished suffering from privation, its influences have been shown through social and political advancements. Hence, Norman E. Borlaug, who fully utilized his understanding of genetics which unlocked the secret of how life works, is the most influential scientist in the course of history. In the middle of the 20th century, the whole world was undergoing catastrophic circumstances due to World War II and inflation. Eventually, these calamities led to acute famine. Numerous countries attempted to ameliorate their situations by husbandry; however, the lands were not arable on account of poor soil quality, inefficient strategies, and ineffectual grains. Although the situation seemed incorrigible, Norman Borlaug firmly believed that there was a way to engender a high yielding grain: invent a genetically modified grain by uncovering a secret of genome. In the 1940s, he started conducting research in Mexico with thousands of different crops to breed the highest yielding crop. Through Backcrossing, a crossing of hybrid which was used in his research, Norman Borlaug invented a semi-dwarf, high-yield, and disease resistant rice called the IR8. The magic rice, IR8, has countless advantages...
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...United States Department of Agriculture USDA Accomplishments 2009-2012 Secretary Tom Vilsack Global Food Security Today, 870 million people around the world do not have access to a sufficient supply of nutritious and safe food. Tackling this problem to help establish global food security is important not only to hundreds of millions of hungry people, but also to the sustainable economic growth of these nations and the long-term economic prosperity of the United States. As we help countries become more food secure and raise incomes, we also expand markets for American producers • For example, over the past five years U.S. agricultural exports to developing countries in Southeast Asia, Central America, and SubSaharan Africa have grown at more than twice the annual rate as compared to developed countries. U.S. poultry meat exports to Sub-Saharan Africa expanded 180 percent from 2009 to 2011. • Given population growth and rising incomes, it is estimated that the demand for food will rise by 70 to 100 percent by 2050. To meet this need, the United Nations estimates that production in developing countries will need to almost double. • In 2010, the U.S. helped launch the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, an international, multilateral trust fund that has already awarded $658 million to finance country development plans in 18 low-income countries, with 8.2 million beneficiaries. Building Local Capacity, Increasing Productivity, and Improving Markets and Trade •...
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...Fedoroff Agric & Food Secur (2015) 4:11 DOI 10.1186/s40066-015-0031-7 Open Access REVIEW Food in a future of 10 billion Nina V Fedoroff* Abstract Over the past two centuries, the human population has grown sevenfold and the experts anticipate the addition of 2–3 billion more during the twenty-first century. In the present overview, I take a historical glance at how humans supported such extraordinary population growth first through the invention of agriculture and more recently through the rapid deployment of scientific and technological advances in agriculture. I then identify future challenges posed by continued population growth and climate warming on a finite planet. I end by discussing both how we can meet such challenges and what stands in the way. Keywords: Population growth, Agriculture, Domestication, Genetic modification, Technology Background Today we have enough food to meet the world’s needs. Indeed, we have an extraordinary global food system that brings food from all over the planet to consumers who can afford to buy it. The food price spike of 2008 and the resurgence of high food prices in recent years have had little impact on the affluent citizens of the developed world who spend a small fraction of their income on food. By contrast, food prices have a profound impact on the world’s poorest people. Many of them spend half or more of their income on food. During the food price crisis of 2008, there were food riots in more than...
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...THE END of POVERTY Economic Possibilities for Our Time JEFFREY D. SACHS THE PENGUIN PRESS N E W YORK 2005 THE PENGUIN PRESS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc.. 375 Hudson Street. New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) - Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India ' Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, NewZealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) - Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England First published in 2005 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright ©Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005 All rights reserved Page 397 constitutes an extension of this copyright page, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Sachs, Jeffrey. The e n d of poverty / Jeffrey Sachs. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59420-045-9 1. Poverty—Developing countries. 2. Developing countries—Economic policy...
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