Global food production and consumption : future trends, opportunities and constraints for livestock products : the Underwood lecture for 2002

Abstract

Despite the increases in the world?s population, the percentage of food insecure people has halved over the last 30 years. There are encouraging signs of a decline in the rate of increase in the population in several key countries e.g. China and India, but several hotspots remain, especially in the south Asia region and Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past decade there have been encouraging signs also of economic growth, one manifestation of which is a marked increase in the demand for animal products such as meat, milk and eggs. This new demand creates opportunities for trade in livestock products, technology and infrastructure, IT and management systems, for the production, transportation, processing, waste disposal, and marketing and distribution of animal products. It also creates potential threats because of the demand for feed grains, on which much of the increase in production will depend, and the environmental demands that increased crop production will place on natural resources. On balance, the opportunities outweigh the threats, but humanitarian values necessary to provide the aid that is required by the poorest countries, should not be forgotten in the chase for increased profits amongst those countries that are growing towards economic prosperity.