Asia’s graduating scientists urged to solve food security

Asia’s graduating scientists urged to solve problems of future food insecurity

Bangkok, Thailand, 17 December 2014 – Nearly 300 of Asia’s brightest, newly graduated university students and doctoral candidates could one day find the answers to feeding an ever growing world, a senior official with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific made the remarks during his graduation address as key graduation speaker at the 122nd Graduation Ceremony of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).

The graduates, from some 25 countries, listened intently as Konuma explained the challenges to feeding the world during their generation.

“Right now we have enough food to feed the world but, as we see, that food is not shared equally,” Konuma said. “By 2050 with a population of more than nine billion people, FAO estimates we will need to increase food production by some 77 percent in developing countries. But there is only around five percent of arable land in the world that can be expanded – that means we must do more with what we have. We must become more productive and hence young scientists such as AIT graduates hold a key role in improving agricultural productivity and feeding the world,” Konuma told the graduates.

Challenges of climate change, water scarcity and competing uses of land and water between growing food crops and bioenergy crops, increasing demands for crops like maize, used for biofuel instead of food, all add to the pressure for the world’s agricultural researchers to come up with ways and means to tackle the growing threat of future food insecurity.

“Food waste is another challenge,” Konuma said, pointing out that people in developed countries waste anywhere from 15-25 percent of food on their dinner tables – while in general 30 percent of all food produced worldwide is either lost or wasted, “simply unacceptable in a world where one in nine people goes to bed hungry each night,” he added.

Konuma also had a warning for the graduates. “If we (as academics and researchers) can’t solve the problems of future food insecurity, people will take matters into their own hands. There might be unrest – some could even turn to terrorism,” Konuma warned.

Reaching out to the young graduates directly, Konuma made an impassioned plea. “I hope you will be the ones to implement change,” he said. “Graduates like you can be the world’s future scientists – the ones who can solve the problems facing food security.”

Konuma acknowledged the importance of AIT in its research efforts. The Institute was founded in 1959 and attracts students to its tertiary and post-graduate programmes from around the world.

In concluding his address, Konuma called upon the graduates to always remember the importance of food. “Don't forget about the world and how interdependent we are – we need to help each other,” Konuma said. “Think globally and help those most disadvantaged. You are the future leaders of our global society,” he concluded.

ENDS

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