Small-scale eco-farming could double food production in many of the world's poorest regions and also help fight climate change, according to a Unated Nations report. The spectre og world hunger looms even larger as the global population continues to balloon, especially in the least developed nations. Today, more than a billion of the planet's nearly seven billion pleople live at the adge of subsistence on less than a dollar per day.
Food prices have flared in recent years due to climate-related natural disasters, with the cost of several staple foods reaching unprecedented levels last month, according to the UN's food price index. By mid-century, when the global population is expected to surpass 9 billion, food shortages will become even more critical as will the need of additional output. But the key to boostingoutput in poor countries is a shift from mono-crops doused with chemical fertilisers and pesticides to more sustainable techniques that can both increase yields and repair the environment, the report said. "We are not in a situation in which agriculture can only be about increasing production", said Olivier De Schutter, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He also pointed out that conventional farming degrades soil, fuels climate change, is vulnerable to wheather shocks, and relies on expensive inputs.
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