How can planet earth provide enough food for its inhabitants ?

We are already 8 billion people on planet earth. The two big challenges staring us at our faces is 

• a growing population that would hit 10 billion by 2050 AD and possibly peak at about 12 billion and then level out.
• Climate change reducing land under cultivation and the depleting fresh water reserves

Image courtesy The Hindu

How can we overcome these two challenges. ?

It was interesting to go thru an article in CNN (click here)  that list out six innovations.

• Plant based coatings - that can prevent fruits and farm produce rotting or wilting
• Climate resilient crops - that can thrive even in salt sea water
• Precision farming - using digital mapping, drones and sensors to administer exact pesticides, precise watering, preventing adulteration of nearby lands 
• Insect protein - is grown as food for worms that convert food waste into protein-rich feed for poultry or cattle, even humans 
• Producing food sustainably - preserving eco-diversity across all ecosystems including coastal, marine and terrestrial, including forests, agricultural land and urban areas
  
• Urban farming - using vertical farming in urban areas like old buildings, warehouses etc help to get almost 10 times the output from horizontal farming, by making use of LED lights, giving water at the roots of plants, with no chemical fertiliser use.

Wasting less food on our dining tables and kitchen and using more of greens and fruits is one of the best ways to ensure that humanity will never run out of food in the coming decades.

George.