More money must be earmarked for agriculture to avoid a global hunger crisis in coming decades, a British food policy expert said.
"It's a huge problem," said Gordon Conway of the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London.
Conway is the keynote speaker at next week's Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development. The meeting, to be held in France, features scientists, farmers, aid groups and businesses working to ward off hunger in the world's poorest countries, the BBC reported Friday.
Crop yields must double if the world is to feed the estimated 9 billion people living on the planet by mid-century, Conway said. The effort is being hampered by climate change and a lack of basic agricultural knowledge, he said.
"Everywhere you go in Africa you can buy Coca-cola or Pepsi-Cola, but you can't buy a packet of seeds so easily," Conway said.
Part of the solution would be for western donors to earmark more money for agriculture projects in the poorest African and south Asian countries, he said.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
