ABSTRACT
By 2020, demand for rice, wheat and maize is expected to grow by 40 per cent, requiring about 50 per cent more water. Urbanization will lead to rising competition for land and water. Therefore, the need to produce food in an environmentally sound manner is a huge challenge of global relevance. The challenges are: more than double food production in the next 30 years to keep pace with population growth; increase food production while maintaining the natural resource base, at least with minimum further degradation on approximately the same arable land; produce food that is safe for human consumption in a long-term perspective and without detrimental health effects to subsequent generations; and reach the hungry, malnourished and poor by accomplishing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015. There is a need to nurture all the good aspects of democracy and governance if resource-poor people are also to benefit according to the MDGs.
