ABSTRACT
4According to FAO estimate, by 2050, the world’s population will reach about 9.6 billion (34% higher than today). The population increase will occur mainly in developing countries, and urbanization will continue to be about 70% (compared to 49% as of today). Income growth would be many fold higher; so, consumption of food and biofuels would increase by more than 70% (FAO, 2009). Annual cereal production requirement will be one and half times more, i.e., 3 billion tons, from 2.1 billion tons as of today. Similarly, meat requirement will also be around 470 billion tons as compared to 270 billion tons as of today. Agricultural land will shrink, and more food will have to be produced from less land; moreover, water and energy resources will become limiting factors. Agricultural intensification in richer countries and extensification (land clearing) in poor countries will continue; consequently, ~1 billion ha of land would be cleared globally by 2050. The CO2-C equivalent greenhouse gas emissions will then reach by -3 Gt y−1 and N use by -250 Mt y−1. The conditions will be absolutely different, and demand of resources will be much higher than today. Meeting this additional demand of food and feed will be a difficult task for several nations.
