By 2050, there will be around 2.5 billion people more in the world. Although, today, already 795 million people (around 1/9 of the world’s population) are starving, mostly in Asia and Africa. Every year, malnutrition causes the death of 3.5 million children under 5 years old.

Facing climate changes and finding solutions to feed 9 billion people will be two of the most important challenges for scientists. We can already list some of the ideas that could lead us to food accessibility for everyone.

First of all, mentalities will have to change : binging and wasting cannot occur anymore. The Western way of living will be over : eating beef every day will no longer be possible. Actually, beef has the most inefficient converting rate : 1 kilo of beef needs about 12 kilos of feed. Today, around 50% of the cereals in the world are produced to feed livestock, while they could directly feed humans.

Possible solutions to that problem could be : eating insects! 2 billion people in the world already eat insects on a daily basis. And they are very efficient : for 1 kilogram of crickets, beetles or grasshoppers, you need only 2 kilograms of feed. Plus, they are rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals ; they also reproduce very fast, and they can be raised anywhere.

For the squeamish people who are reluctant about entomophagy, and hold on to their beefsteak, scientists may have found the solution : they created lab-grown meat, made of individual beef muscle stem cells. This project is still ongoing, many problems are yet unsolved; and it’s a very expensive process. But if the project comes to an end, we will be able to eat meat without killing animals.

Another solution to feed 9 billion people could be eating algae. Algae are still an untapped food source, although it’s a very good alternative to animal proteins. They are rich in nutrients, proteins and antioxidants. There are many edible species of algae, if we take for example the Spirulina, it is very easy to grow in Asia and Africa, because it needs a strong sunshine and high temperatures. It can be grown on buildings’ rooftops, so that it doesn’t take space in the big cities.

To prevent malnutrition, and deficiencies that can lead to severe diseases and even death, scientists developed genetically modified plants; such as golden rice, which produces beta-carotene, or green super rice which is more resistant to droughts, floods and diseases.

 

As a conclusion, we can say that, obviously, our grandchildren will not have the same diet as we do today, as we do not have the same diet than our grandparents used to have. Food will be a daily preoccupation, and yields will have to be radically increased to feed the 9 billion people living on Earth, while preserving the environment, to protect the future of our descendants.