Agriculture and Food Problems

Agriculture provides more than 99.7% of the world food supply; the oceans and aquatic ecosystems contribute less than 0.3%. With the human population projected to grow from its 2005 level of 6.5 billion to 9–11 billion by 2050, it will be increasingly diffi cult to meet future basic human food needs given the fi nite resources of the earth.

The status of the food supply has already become critical in many areas of the world. Based on data of the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization, it is estimated that roughly 3.7 billion people are currently malnourished whereas about 800,000 suffer from hunger. Not only are hunger and malnutrition signifi cant problems in and of themselves, but they also predispose people to infectious diseases. This relationship is evidenced by the growing number of people dying from infectious diseases and illness associated with such environmental problems as air pollution and chemical pollutants. Diseases in humans worldwide have increased during the past decade.