Martin Kropff closes International Wheat Conference with warning

Global food production has continued to expand and reach more people, but it must double by 2050 to meet demand; the poor are especially at risk of not being able to obtain the food necessary for survival.

“The current food system is vulnerable to many threats such as drought, flooding and disease,” Martin Kropff, director general at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), said. “As we saw in the food price crisis of 2008, there is not enough resilience to the prospect of multiple shocks, which we know will become much more likely in the future due to climate change.”

Kropff closed the ninth annual International Wheat Conference (IWC) on Sept. 25, and 2014 World Food Prize laureate Sanjaya Rajaram spoke on increasing annual wheat yield grains.

“Governments and the private sector must more fully support research efforts into developing new wheat varieties or face the risk of further global insecurity related to price instability, hunger riots and related conflict,” Rajaram said.

The takeaway from the IWC Australia was that the public and private sectors must continue to work together and to develop crop improvement technologies. CIMMYT is a germ plasm bank that can help with the development and genetic diversity in wheat agriculture.