London, Jan 25 (IANS) Soaring food prices over the next few decades will push millions of people into hunger worldwide, thanks to famine, mass migrations and riots, experts warn.
The report by Foresight, British government think tank, called for ‘urgent action’ to prevent food shortages, and said genetically modified crops may be needed to prevent famines.
The report, written by 40 scientists in 35 countries, calls for a ‘green revolution’ to boost production using traditional, organic and genetically-modified crops.
Global food prices are already at a record high. Last month, the price of cereals, sugar and meat soared on the world’s markets after a series of crop failures caused by bad weather.
Even a ‘modest’ rise in food prices could push 100 million people into hunger, the report warned, according to the Daily Mail.
Foresight predicted that the world’s population would rise from 6.9 billion today to around nine billion by the middle of the century. As the world gets more crowded and more wealthy, demand for food, water and energy will soar.
Co-author Professor Charles Godfray of Oxford University said: ‘There is a very large risk of a quite substantial increase in prices over the next 30 or 40 years.’
‘We are going to have to produce considerably more food… from the same amount of land without wrecking the environment,’ he added.
Professor Sherman Robinson of Sussex University, report co-author, said food prices could go up by 50 percent over the next few decades.
Professor John Beddington, British government’s chief scientific adviser, said the food system was failing. ‘Firstly it is unsustainable, with resources being used faster than they can be naturally replenished,’ he said.
‘Secondly, a billion people are going hungry with another billion people suffering from ‘hidden hunger’, whilst a billion people are over-consuming.’
