One Billion Hungry

Gordon Conway

Description

Hunger is a daily reality for a billion people. More than six decades after the technological discoveries that led to the Green Revolution aimed at ending world hunger, regular food shortages, malnutrition, and poverty still plague vast swaths of the world. And with increasing food prices, climate change, resource inequality, and an ever-increasing global population, the future holds further challenges.In One Billion Hungry, Sir Gordon Conway, one of the world's foremost experts on global food needs, explains the many interrelated issues critical to our global food supply from the science of agricultural advances to the politics of food security. He expands the discussion begun in his influential The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the Twenty-First Century, emphasizing the essential combination of increased food production, environmental stability, and poverty reduction necessary to end endemic hunger on our planet. Conway addresses a series of urgent questions about global hunger: * How we will feed a growing global population in the face of a wide range of adverse factors, including climate change? * What contributions can the social and natural sciences make in finding solutions?* And how can we engage both government and the private sector to apply these solutions and achieve significant impact in the lives of the poor?Conway succeeds in sharing his informed optimism about our collective ability to address these fundamental challenges if we use technology paired with sustainable practices and strategic planning.Beginning with a definition of hunger and how it is calculated, and moving through issues topically both detailed and comprehensive, each chapter focuses on specific challenges and solutions, ranging in scope from the farmer's daily life to the global movement of food, money, and ideas. Drawing on the latest scientific research and the results of projects around the world, Conway addresses the concepts and realities of our global food needs: the legacy of the Green Revolution; the impact of market forces on food availability; the promise and perils of genetically modified foods; agricultural innovation in regard to crops, livestock, pest control, soil, and water; and the need to both adapt to and slow the rate of climate change. One Billion Hungry will be welcomed by all readers seeking a multifaceted understanding of our global food supply, food security, international agricultural development, and sustainability.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Sustainability
• Central
• Famine

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801466083
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

One Bîllîon Hungry

One Billion Hungry

Can We Feed the World?

G O R D O N C O N WAY with Katy Wilson

Foreword by Rajiv Shah

Published with the support of Agriculture for Impact, Imperial College, London

Comstock Publishing Associates,a division of Cornell University Press|Ithaca and London

This publication is based on research funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Copyright © 2012 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

 First published 2012 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2012

Printed in the United States of America and the United Kingdom

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Conway, Gordon. One billion hungry : can we feed the world? / Gordon Conway with Katy Wilson ; foreword by Rajiv Shah. p. cm. “Published with the support of Agriculture for Impact, Imperial College, London.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5133-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8014-7802-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Agricultural innovations—Developing countries. 2. Green Revolution— Developing countries. 3. Food supply—Developing countries. 4. Food security—Developing countries. I. Wilson, Katy. II. Conway, Gordon. Doubly green revolution. III. Title.

S494.5.I5C663 2012 338.1'6091724—dc23

2012014403

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing Paperback printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the memory of Cyril and Thelma Conway

 1  2  3  4

 5  6  7  8

 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16

Forewordby Rajiv Shah Acknowledgments Editorial Note

Contents

Part I Acute and Chronic Crises What Is Hunger? The Green Revolution The Political Economy of Food Security

Part II A Doubly Green Revolution Sustainable Intensification Appropriate Technology Creating Markets

Part III Designer Crops The Livestock Revolution Farmers as Innovators

Part IV Controlling Pests Rooted in the Soil Sustained by Water Adapting to Climate Change Reducing Greenhouse Gases

17 Conclusion: Can We Feed the World? References Index

ix xi xv

3 21 41 63

85 103 125 143

167 187 207

227 246 268 286 306

329 349 429

Foreword

by Rajiv Shah Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development

By the late 1990s, global food security had mostly fallen off the world’s agenda. The success of the Green Revolution had helped hundreds of millions of people in Latin America and Asia avoid a life of extreme hunger and poverty. Governments— developed and developing alike—assumed this success would spread and cut their investments in agriculture, allowing them to turn their attention elsewhere. But while many had lost sight of the importance of agricultural development, Gordon Conway stayed focused. In his book,A Doubly Green Revolution, published in 1997, Gordon issued a pressing call for the development community to recommit to the goals of fighting hunger and malnutrition around the world. Gordon argued that the lasting elimination of hunger required us to do more than transform the production of food—the hallmark achievement of the Green Revo- lution. We also had to help smallholder farmers build resilience to natural disasters and climate change, use advances in science and technology to boost yields, and part- ner with the private sector to get those crops to market. Thanks to Gordon’s leader- ship, the world is once again delivering a global commitment to strengthening food security. In 2009, President Obama established a global food security initiative called Feed the Future. Spearheaded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Feed the Future helps countries develop productive agriculture sectors so they can feed them- selves and transform their economies over the long term. In partnership with local and international private companies, the global initiative supports country-led plans to focus investment in regions most likely to flourish, and in crop and livestock sys- tems with the greatest chance of fighting poverty and malnutrition. These efforts are more important now than ever before. In the Horn of Africa, the worst drought in 60 years put more than 13.3 million people in the path of hunger and disease during 2011. In Somalia, where decades of civil war and disorder have contributed to the complete breakdown of governance, drought led to a famine that threatened the security and economic growth of the entire region. In coordination with humanitarian assistance, long-term approaches to strengthen resilience—for example, safety nets, frontline health programs, and vaccination campaigns—helped mitigate the worst of the drought impacts across the Horn. But

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