NRI Welcomes Royal Society Report into Food Security

26 October 2009

The Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich welcomes the publication of the Royal Society latest report “Reaping the benefits: Science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture” which was launched last week.

 

Dr Guy Poulter

Dr Guy Poulter, Director of NRI said “The Royal Society’s report is a valuable and very welcome addition to the current debate around how science, and particularly the UK scientific research base, should best serve the needs of an increasing global population and lead the fight against global hunger at a time when climate change poses a significant threat to current rates of productivity across the world”.

 

A New Push

The report urges the Government to act now, and to invest £2 billion of new money over the coming decade to help maintain and further fortify the UK’s capacity for innovation in scientific research and help identify pragmatic, practical and yet sensitive solutions to help secure global food supplies. As Sir David Baulcombe, who led the Royal Society’s study stated, “UK scientists have been at the head of the pack when it comes to topics related to food crops. In the UK we have the potential to come up with viable scientific solutions for feeding a growing population and we have a responsibility to realise this potential. There's a very clear need for policy action and publicly-funded science to make sure this happens."

He went on to assert “We need to take action now to stave off food shortages,” adding, “If we wait even five to 10 years, it may be too late.”

The report highlighted UK action as a essential response to a heightening global crisis, which currently sees 1 billion people suffering from chronic hunger and which will require a rise in global food production of about 50% by 2050, at which stage the global population may have risen to 9 billion.

The Natural Resources Institute recognises that there is no single technological panacea for achieving global food security and that countries such as the UK must meet a pressing need to examine all the options available in the social sciences, economic sciences and natural sciences, with the latter ranging from traditional crop rotation to the latest advancements in agricultural science such as genetic modification.

Farmers in Luwero	Sweet Potato storage root	Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato
Reproduced with Kind Permission © 2009 DFID CPP © 2009 University of Greenwich

Bio fortified Crops

A special mention was made on the bio-fortification of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes in Mozambique as an excellent example of UK Science’s practical contribution to fighting global food security, which includes a commitment to the provision of adequate nutrition as well as calories, and to which the Natural Resources Institute continues to make an important contribution. Through conventional breeding, the Harvest Plus Programme has been able to increase the micronutrient content of staple foods such as the sweet potato, helping to increase the levels of Vitamin A pre-cursor Beta-Carotene making them bio-available to the consumer. NRI’s contribution has been to help ensure that the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are organoleptically acceptable to the local population and meet market requirements. This is the crucial link in the chain that actually puts the research into use. Initiatives such as this are crucial in combating the micronutrient deficiencies which currently result in an estimated 250,000 pre-school children a year going blind due to Vitamin A deficiency.

The Future

According to the report the diminishing capacity of UK Universities in relation to teaching and research in agriculture and crop science has led to a shortage of expertise in disciplines of global importance. In response, the report calls for Universities to work closely with funding bodies to reverse the decline in relevant subject area, recommending that a global outlook is adopted to address the skills gap, offering targeted subsidies to scientists in developing countries to visit the UK and work with UK researchers.

Dr Poulter commented, “NRI understands this problem first hand having been at the heart of research into the management of natural resources for over a century now. We will be considering the report’s recommendations and how NRI can best continue to contribute to this field in the emerging climate of cooperation working closely with the relevant research bodies and maintaining the delivery of joined-up research and practical solutions of the highest quality as demanded by the developing world, thereby helping to underpin global food security for the next 40 years.”