MILAN (Reuters) – the rapid population increase, change

climate and land degradation and water resources

possibly affect food security in the world and

they complicate the task of sustaining the population by 2050,

said Monday a body of Nations United.

The world will have to increase its grain production in

billion tons and generate 200 million tons

additional agricultural products to the year 2050, to

order to feed a population that is expected to reach the

9 billion people, considered the Organization of

United Nations food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Intense agricultural activity of the last decades has

helped millions of people suffering from famine, but

often resulted in the degradation of land and water systems of

which depends on agriculture, he indicated the entity.

“Systems at risk simply might not be able to

“

contribute as expected to meet the demands

human by 2050. The consequences in terms of famine

and poverty are unacceptable. “Actions must be taken for

remedy it now”, said Jacques Diouf, director-general of the

FAO.

A quarter of the land in the world are highly

degraded, another 8 percent have moderate levels of

degradation, while 36 percent is stable or

slightly degraded with a 10 percent improvement, said

FAO in a so-called report “State of land resource

“”

and water in the world for food and Agriculture”.

Water scarcity is increasing due to salinization

and the pollution of underground layers, in addition to the

degradation of ecosystems linked to water resources,

said the report.

In many large rivers, remains only 5 percent of

the volumes of water in the stream and some, like the River

Yellow of China already does not reach the sea throughout the

year. Great Lakes and inland seas have been reduced and the

half of the wetlands in Europe and North America have

disappeared, said the Agency headquartered in Rome.

The threat of famine

With the increase in competition for land and water to end

keep the food production for the industry and the

development of urban centres, the challenge of providing sufficient

food for all has never been so great, he asserted.

Almost 1 billion people suffer from malnutrition

currently, with 578 million in Asia and Africa 239

Sub-Saharan, said FAO.

In developing countries, even if you doubled the

farming by 2050 – as it is required for

feed the world – a person of every 20 would still be in

risk of malnutrition, an equivalent of 370 people

living with hunger, the majority of which would be in Africa

and Asia, said.

Agricultural production would increase more rapidly

that the population in order to improve levels of nutrition and

control the famine and food insecurity, he said the

FAO.

This should occur mostly on current Earth

agricultural improvements from a sustainable intensification

to use the land and water efficiently, without prejudice to

the ecosystems.

There have been signs of a slowdown in production

agriculture in several areas of the world, where the activity has been

dropped to 50% with respect to the green revolution

the decades of 1960 and 1970, when agriculture was

driven by intensive practices and new varieties of

seeds.