Need to raise food production urged

Manama : Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) President Dr. Abdulrahman Jawahery stressed the need to increase food production to reduce chronic global food insecurity.

Speaking on the occasion of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisations (FAO) World Food Day, Dr. Jawahery, who is also the Chairman of the International Fertiliser Industry Association (IFA) and the Arab Fertiliser Association (AFA), said the world needed to increase production by 60 per cent to feed 9.2 billion people by
2050.

The change in the world’s climate, food production and agricultural patterns are also changing and that was clearly brought up in the slogan for this year’s celebrations of Food Day, he added. He also pointed out the importance of a viable approach and finding alternatives for agricultural production and domestic economic activity.

Dr. Jawahery praised the teamwork at GPIC and its achievements at the local, regional and global level as well as its commitment to address issues of food security and nutrition to find new and effective ways to support farmers around the world. 

Rural development and the promotion of agricultural food production should be encouraged, he said, explaining that the fertiliser sector contributes in supporting the goals of sustainable development directly through poverty eradication initiatives and promotion of food security, or indirectly through the reduction of water use and deforestation, which improves use of water rather than expansion of agricultural land.

He said GPIC continued its partnership in the promotion of sustainable means of high yield crops by producing fertilisers and promoting its vision to take part in the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2015.

According to The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 report, 795 million people suffer from hunger now as compared with 167 million a decade ago. 

To accelerate progress, save lives and build a stronger future by 2030, a yearly investment of $265 billion, equal to about 0.3pc of the global GDP, is needed to overcome the challenges facing the world in the field of food security, the report added.