Global food and nutrition security (FNS) is a complex, multi-faceted concept. Over time the concept has evolved to reflect a wider recognition of the complexities of the technical and policy issues involved, and modified in accordance with a common understanding of the nature of the food problem, and the evolution of the global food system.
The definition went through stages to reach a common wording adopted at the World Food Summit in 1996 and furthermore refined in ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World’ progress reports stating that food security is realized “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” If any of these three pillars is unfulfilled, food insecurity prevails.
Keeping this definition in mind, we see the agricultural systems requiring a suite of solutions to address the actual and future Food and Nutrition Insecurities. Indeed, the global challenges of population growth, depletion of natural resources, and climate change impact require innovative thinking about sustainable management of all environments (arable and marginal). Several studies present detailed evidence of the impact of improved varieties, management practices, and accompanying policy innovations on increasing yields and raising income as a result of the Green revolution.
During the green revolution era, an agro-industrial approach was encourage, this approach enhanced the productivity of only about 16 commodities of food crops in high potential environments. The impact of these agro-industrial or agronomic approaches on marginal areas have been generally minimal. In fact, evidence points that the green revolution expansion tended to benefit resource-rich farmers rather than the millions of small farmers, especially those living in marginal areas. The consequent impact of that is dire as there are about 1.4 billion people living in these marginal areas that are mostly dependent on agriculture for their sustenance and survival. Creative strategies are needed to improve their livelihood, as many eke out subsistence existence on marginal lands, with inadequate technology to enhance productivity or financial or capital resources. This is a huge gap towards a worldwide poverty reduction and food/nutrition security that ICBA and its partners are trying to address.
Innovations focusing on poor and marginal lands have sought to evaluate options for marginal quality land and water resources, and in particular recognize explicitly the importance of designing interventions with increased tolerance to harsh growing conditions. In the years ahead, technological breakthrough offer the promise of making it faster and less costly to achieve these goals. The new narrative for marginal areas envisions technological innovations derived through omics, smart water use that is customized to specific ecosystem and climate contexts. These innovations leverage advances in other areas such information technology, nanotechnology, and use of sensors, in optimizing economic benefits in the farming systems.
Zooming on the Arab countries, most of them are within a largely arid and semi-arid region with serious water scarcity issues and with large portion of the population within the farming communities. The projections for 2030 and 2050, based on the IPCC estimates and water risk atlas data concludes that these countries are projected to suffer significant declines in agricultural productivity because favored agricultural lands is being transitioned towards marginality because of increased water stress. There is a dire need for boosting investment in the Arab countries in research and development to find adequate solutions to agriculture in marginal conditions.
There is a case to be made for advancing research and technology development for marginal environment as they could play a major role in food and nutrition securities globally. To feed tomorrow’s population we need to take advantage of all existing resources, in a sustainable manner.
