It’s Now or Never: The Global Race Towards Food Security

If there is one opportunity in the 2022 food crisis, it’s the chance to build resilient food systems that can withstand any future shocks.

 

Still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the world is now facing a food crisis as prices soar to all-time highs. The giant leap in food prices is linked to the supply chain disruptions caused by the Ukraine-Russia conflict which have affected commodities such as wheat, edible oils, and fertilizers.

 

The World Bank’s Food Commodity Price Index, reached a record high during April 2022, more than 80% higher than it was two years ago. Food prices are expected to remain at these historically high levels through the end of 2024, exacerbating issues around food security.

 

Another challenge over the coming months will be access to fertilizers – a key ingredient used by farmers in the production of food. Russia and Belarus are major fertilizer exporters, and the spiking fertilizer prices may impact production across many crops in different regions affecting both food supply and farmers’ livelihoods.

 

SHRINKING FARMLAND

 

Besides the high food inflation, desertification and shrinking farmland are also threatening food security. While many countries lack arable land due to extreme climate, many others are losing it to urban development.

 

In Canada, total farmland shrank by 3.2% between 2016 and 2021. In the U.S., 11 million acres of irreplaceable farmland were converted to urban and residential use between 2001 and 2016. More recent data shows that the U.S. lost another 1.3 million acres of farmland in 2021.

 

To top it all, climate change is affecting agricultural yields globally.

• In Mozambique, the Eloise cyclone that hit the country in January 2021 flooded 142,000 hectares of crops.

 

• In India, the intense spring 2022 heatwave that took over the country caused wheat production to drop 10-15% from the anticipated level of 110 million metric tons.

 

• In Europe the summer droughts exacerbated by heatwaves also impacted yields of certain crops

 

So how is the world going to address these challenges?

 

CLIMATE-RESILIENT CROPS

 

Many countries are expanding their domestic food production to increase food independence. However, an important part of the solution lies in growing more climate resilient crops.

 

Wheat, the most widely cultivated cereal crop in the world, is not climate-resilient, as yields could drop by 7% for every degree Celsius of global warming. The vulnerability of wheat to declining supply, due to conflict and climate change, has spurred attempts to produce a bigger diversity of resilient grains that can be cultivated locally.

 

In Bahrain and other Arabian Gulf countries, governments have prioritized reviving date palm cultivation as a way of improving food security and farmers’ livelihoods. The crop is the only indigenous desert plant domesticated in this region’s native harsh environment.

 

Bahrain is currently seeking to join the Saudi Arabia-based International Dates Council to help develop more sustainable farming techniques and increase productivity. The newly formed council currently has 12 members.

 

Additionally, Bahrain opened bids last year for a BD300,000 (USD 797,872) dates factory in Hawrat A’ali. The facility would process 5,000 tonnes of dates annually, eventually increasing to 15,000 tonnes once fully operational.

 

In Africa, researchers are calling for more investment in indigenous crops as a way to break the continent’s reliance on imported wheat, rice, and maize.

 

Crops such as fonio, teff, sorghum, cassava and various millets can be harvested much faster and stored far longer than mainstream crops such as wheat and rice. Not only that, but these crops are resilient to drought and more nutritious. However, funding agencies have so far neglected these traditional grains.

 

 

INDOOR FARMING

Alongside the movement to grow indigenous crops, there is also a huge worldwide push into Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). This production system encompasses all types of indoor agriculture where certain aspects of the environment are controlled via technologies, such as artificial light and hydroponics.

 

Greenhouses and vertical farms – the most common types of indoor farms – are increasingly making inroads in countries where there is surging food demand, and where the weather is not conducive to traditional farming.

 

In Bahrain, local firm Peninsula Farms is achieving 98% crop yields – mainly green leafy vegetables – throughout the year by using hydroponic greenhouse systems. The government of Bahrain has also invested in a one-hectare greenhouse combining aquaponics and hydroponics. Greenhouse manufacturer Kingpeng, which undertook the project, is currently expanding it to two hectares.

 

Hydroponic plants can be grown without the restrictions of soil quality or extreme temperatures and using less water compared to soil. This makes hydroponic farming ideal for improving food security in desert climates such as Bahrain’s.

 

The Gulf country has already managed to increase agricultural production by expanding cultivated areas and adopting hydroponics. Over the last three years, it produced 418 tonnes of vegetables annually through hydroponics and aims to increase this to 10,000 tonnes annually, according to its Food Security Strategy.

 

These ambitions represent opportunities for private-sector companies, especially AgriTech businesses that can address Bahrain’s unique environmental challenges and improve food security for its 1.7 million people.

 

Vertical farming could be even more beneficial than greenhouse farming for the small island nation of Bahrain, which is comprised of mostly barren desert and where arable land is limited. In 2018, only 11% of Bahrain’s area was agricultural land, according to World Bank data.

 

Vertical farms stack crops high in trays or tower. Therefore, they take up less space than traditional soil-based agriculture, allowing more food production in a smaller footprint of land. Additionally, vertical farming uses 80% to 99% less water than conventional farms, which explains why Gulf countries are making substantial investments in these types of farms.

 

Globally, the vertical farming market is estimated to be worth USD 3.81 billion.

 

 

WHAT’S NEXT?

The recent deal between Russia and Ukraine to reopen the Black Sea ports to grain shipments brought a ray of hope as it will immediately lead to easing of global food prices, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.

 

However, the food crisis put some governments in an uncomfortable position that they would not want to be in again, leaving them looking for both short-term and long-term solutions. As a result, many of them have accelerated efforts to build more resilient food systems, bolstering domestic production and diversifying their supply chain to new emerging markets.

 

Now that the ball is finally rolling with tangible steps towards food security, it is unlikely that this momentum will stop anytime soon.