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ELB – Gold (Draft III) There are many threats to global food supplies. Explain the problem, identify possible solutions, and assess the effectiveness of these solutions. It is frequently pointed out that food supply will be one of the most important concerns in the future. This situation is caused by the population explosion and many problems related with food production and consumption. This essay will show that the two main contributing factors to the food supply problem are food wastage and the low crop productivity. It will also suggest reasonable solutions and evaluate the effectiveness of these solutions. According to Godfray (2010), the world’s population will grow to nine billion over the next four decades. To feed this new population, we will need to produce much more food than we do today. In addiction, the problem is exacerbated by the rise of consumerism and low productivity rate in some regions of the world. In short, the food supply is becoming a major problem and it needs to be considered. Many factors are contributing to the food crisis supply. First, a high percentage of food produced has being wasted. Godfray (2010) states that 30 to 40% of world's food is lost to waste. The reasons for this wasting includes great commercial pressure to sell large amounts of food and inadequate knowledge to distribute well this food until the population. Another reason is the low crop productivity, especially in developing countries. For example, in Africa, the productivity rate is the same since 1961 (Godfray, 2010 b). This data demonstrate that food production are not increasing even with the population growth. In summary, to solve the food supply problem we need to find solutions to control food wasting and boost crops productivity. Immediate solutions should be taken to solve the food supply problem. Firstly, it is necessary to control the wasting problem. Godfray (2010) shows that public investment in transport and storage of food are effective ways to reduce the problem. Also, measures such as advocacy, education and legislation are crucial to reeducate population and consequently to reduce the waste rate. However, different solutions are required to solve the low crop productivity problem. In this case, investments in soil and water conservation should be done.
For instance, in Tahoua, Niger, the food production increased suddenly in the last ten years with investments in these fields (Godfray, 2010 d). In brief, we can see that all solutions require government's attention. To evaluate the effectiveness of the solutions proposed, it is necessary examining them. Although change population habits appears to be the easiest way to solve these problems, it is almost impossible to change the view of too many people in a short period as the problem require. The investments in structure, meanwhile, may be considered more effective because it is possible to get financial