The need for food is increasingly rising globally. This essay attempts to shed light on the causes of this trend before suggesting some solutions to ensure that there is enough food supply.
The foremost reasons for the increasing food demand are population and globalisation. In recent ages, the number of newborn individuals has experienced a dramatic growth, which requires an enormous supply of food to nurture babies. That of animals simultaneously mirrors such a pattern, demanding enough diet to serve human benefits, including eating itself. Globalisation is also the root cause of this trend. Eating is no longer a habit for mere survival, but has turned into an international culture through exchanged foreign food and worldwide social media. By capturing delicious images of desserts, mastering new, rare, local dishes, or presenting luxury meals, more diverse, exotic cuisines are becoming desired and attracting millions to experience them.
There are some possible measures to ensure the availability of food for the international community. The priority solution is to maintain open trade and fair distribution flowing across the world. Major food exporting nations should continue to provide internation market and consumers, while importing countries must keep ports and borders open, ensuring proper food safety provisions are in place. China is a strong example, which helps sustain market access through its green channels policy, enabling food to be fast-tracked both within provinces and at ports. Furthermore, the food and land use sector should be properly funded with the long-term capital and incentives needed to reward the supply of nutritious, affordable food. Investments can focus on increasing the resilience and diversity of food supply chains, reducing food loss and waste, developing regional food systems, providing vital social protection to farmers and to rural communities, accelerating greater digitisation and transparency across the value chain and rebuilding natural capital. This point must not be overlooked; there is no viable long-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic without the protection and restoration of the world’s critical remaining ecosystems, and a concerted effort to curb the wildlife trade.
In conclusion, the global world nowadays has met with surging food requirements, which can be attributed to a booming population and worldwide integration. With external trade and investment in diverse food and land, we can ultimately avoid a food crisis and ensure its availability.