Insight Web Extra
February 2009—The large increases in food prices and shortages in staple commodities felt worldwide last year shook the world out of decades of complacency about the security of the global food supply. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the price of food commodities, currently 30 percent above 2007 levels, will continue to increase through 2017. The effects of this instability are being felt disproportionately in the developing world, where food security is already most precarious.
At a pair of high-level meetings on food security held by the FAO in Rome last year and again in Madrid this January, the contribution of nuclear techniques to food security was discussed among officials from the United Nations and from other international agencies. At the Rome meeting, more than 180 nations and the European Community pledged to “alleviate suffering caused by soaring food prices, stimulate agricultural development, food and small-holder farmer production and address obstacles to food access and adequate nutrition.”
Since 1964, the FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have operated a joint division that applies nuclear technologies and related biotechnologies to develop strategies for sustainable food security. The techniques are used extensively in agriculture to make food crops more resistant to disease, boost crop yields, combat pests and animal diseases, and monitor the quality of soil and water resources.
The joint FAO/IAEA division has an extensive technical cooperation program in 100 countries to deliver nuclear-based solutions to member states. Some of the successful IAEA-backed programs include helping African countries eradicate deadly cattle diseases, combating the fruit fly in Latin America, and introducing hardy strains of crops worldwide.
At the Madrid meeting, IAEA Director General for Nuclear Sciences and Applications Werner Burkart said that scientific and technological innovation will play a crucial role in promoting global food safety and security. “Applications of nuclear science and technology have much to contribute in improving the quality and variety of foods and in boosting crop and livestock production,” he said.
The United States sent a high-level delegation to the meeting, which released a statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It said in part, “As President Obama said on the first day of his presidency, ‘to the people of poor nations, we pledge alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.’”
“The President and I intend to focus new attention on food security so that developing nations can assist in food production, accessibility, education and technology. The United States is committed to building a new partnership among donor states, developing nations, UN agencies, NGO’s, the private sector and others to better coordinate policies to achieve the UN’s development goal... to cut hunger and poverty in half by 2015.”
—Read more articles in Nuclear Energy Insight and Insight Web Extra.