“Is there enough food to go around?”

Introduction

 

Population growth leaves us all with one question, wherever you are in the world the question we all ask is “Is there enough food to go around?” This paper will cover the issues around food availability for the growing population and the effects of globalization on food supply. There are two issues that surround the question of food supply, first are, whether the world has enough food to go around at the period. Secondly, can the world produce enough food to serve the population? These are major issues that this paper will cover.

 

The main question is whether there is enough food to go around, the answer to this question is No. There is not enough food to go around in the world. At one point we have all heard about hunger or food shortages in different parts of the world, this makes it clear that the world is not supplying enough food. However, can the world produce enough food for its population in the future? Given the cases of global warming and genetically modified food? Yes, we can produce enough food to go around. The world has not fully utilized the arable land available.

 

Globalization

 

Population growth has somehow made the world closer, as people move across borders to exchange their skills and knowledge with people who offer what they cannot. Many people are currently located far away from their places of birth others live abroad. The movement is from less developed parts of the world to more developed parts and this brings about food shortages. When some areas are more populated than others, there is an imbalance in the food supply. There is more food in the scarcely populated areas than there is in densely populated areas.

 

Globalization has its advantages in advanced food production; information is well shared around the world. When information is well-shared food production will be increased, food producers are able to get more information on how to increase yields in small portions of land. More food will be made available, and there will be enough to go around for future cases. However, with globalization, the negative side effects of advanced food production will be spread. It will be easier to demonize advanced food production by those who are against it and due to the manipulation of information; it will dent the image off genetically modified foods.

 

Food Policy

 

At this point in time, the world has not yet achieved a common food policy. In developed countries, genetically modified foods are accepted and fully embraced by the society. However, in many third world nations, there is still a big debate about genetically modified foods. This concept has not been fully accepted as a method of food production. There are more people against it than those who support. It is also quite clear that people in third world countries suffer more than those from developed countries due to food shortages.

 

There is not enough food to go around for us all, and there are cases where there is food surplus in some regions while there are shortages in others. The policy on which foods can be imported into the country creates this gap. While developed countries are able to produce large amounts of food which can be exported to other countries, the policies in those countries hinder importation of such foods.  Food policies should be set and regulated by one international body which will make it uniform for all countries. Having a policy that all nations follow, set by a global organization like the world health organization (WHO), will help solve the food shortage problem. Such a bod is able to conduct research on various foods due to their large pool of resources and from the data gathered they play a role in setting the policy.

 

Population Growth

 

Increase in population automatically raises the demand for food; there are more mouths to feed. However, there is an advantage in population growth in relation to food production and increasing the food available. With a growing population, there is more available manpower to produce more food. Food production will not only be increased because of human resources but also the demand will increase supply.

 

Innovation is an important factor and will play a great role in increasing the food available; population growth will provide a base for more innovation. Advanced methods of food production will have to be implemented so that the food available can be enough to go around. The world has the potential to produce more food which will be enough to feed everybody. However, issues of food policy must be solved.

 

Can we live without corn?

 

We cannot live without corn; it is essential to increase our food production. Most of the beef we eat comes from cows that feed mostly on corn. Beef and corn may not be connected by the average person; you wouldn’t think that corn plays such an integral part in increasing beef.  I could try and live without directly consuming corn and corn beef products, but the steps towards that are really hard to take. 

 

Genetically Modified Foods

 

Food production can be increased through the production of GMO`s, and we can have enough to feed the world. Modifying the genes of a plant increases its yield and also the amount of time it takes from planting to harvest is greatly reduced. The amount of food produced within the same period reduces, this provides annual availability.

 

Though not fully embraced in all parts of the world, genetically modified foods provide the solution to future food production. They eliminate the major hurdles that arise when trying to feed a large number of people and a growing population. The concept of GMO`s should be demystified to people in third world countries for them to embrace it fully and understand that such foods are more advantageous than the risks the pose.

 

The role of research and setting of standards in food production should be left to an international body which will set the standards for the food produced. Food policy and embracing GMO`s will be the solution to increasing food production to have enough to feed the population.