Research finds sustainable methods do increase yield

摘要

OVER THE past 40 years, per capita world food production has grown by 25%, and food prices in real terms have fallen by 40%. Since the early 1960s, average cereal yields grew from 1.2 tonnes per hectare to 2.52 tonnes per hectare in developing countries while total cereal production has grown from 420 to 1176 million tonnes per year. Yet the world still faces a fundamental food security challenge. Today, though, there are more than 800 million people hungry. Despite great progress on average per capita consumption of food (up 17% in the past 30 years to 2760 kcal), people in 33 countries still consume under 2200 kcal per day.