According to the modeling studies, we need to double our annual crop production, which is 9.5 billion tons, to 18 billion tons, in order to feed the world population, which is said to be 9.5 billion with an increase of 35% by 2050. While doing this, we have to admit that only 7.5% of the earth is suitable for crop production and that human beings who have cultivated an area the size of the African continent and opened an area the size of the South American continent for animal husbandry do not have a chance to open new areas.
Even if the situation is so serious, the importance of efforts to protect our soils and their fertility, which takes approximately 1,000 years for the formation of 1 cm, increases much more.
According to the data of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, while there was no decrease in agricultural areas around the world between 2001-2011, there was a decrease of approximately 6% in our country . The current course in our country shows that the problems that the world will face in the very near future, which we have mentioned above, are unfortunately not fully perceived.
According to the ideas developed by current scientists around the world, possible steps that can solve the problem of plant product shortage that we may face in the future include i) protecting existing agricultural areas and not opening new areas, ii) using resources more efficiently, iii) getting more products per unit area in existing areas, iv) changing the way of nutrition and v) reducing the waste and/or losses of the products produced. As can be easily understood, the first three of these steps are directly and/or indirectly related to soils and crop production.
We should protect existing agricultural areas and not open new ones.
In order not to face a problem of inadequacy in crop production in the future, we must ensure that agriculture maintains its current position by not allowing the existing agricultural lands to be misused and the destruction of forests and meadows to open new agricultural production areas. Even so, the grasslands of North America, the Atlantic and Tropical forests of Brazil, and the tropical forests of Indonesia are still being cut down. Moreover, these devastating damages are often caused not to quench hunger, but to obtain more timber to raise palm trees to feed cattle, produce soybean and palm oil for animal feed. In our country, as we have stated above, agricultural areas are under the threat of unconscious steps. Mankind, who has changed 60% of the land with its activities, has to give up its insensitivity that has emerged with industrialization in order to protect the current situation, which has now reached a very dangerous position.
We should buy more products per unit area in the existing areas.
For this purpose, maximum attention should be given to practices related to plant production that evaluates economic and environmental sustainability together, as well as to other areas, especially the breeding of varieties resistant to stress factors such as disease, drought and nutrient deficiencies. The target should be to increase the yield with good agricultural practices in plants that may have a yield difference in unproductive agricultural lands. It seems possible to get more efficiency from the existing fields by using approaches that will bring together high-tech precision agriculture systems and ecological agriculture.
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We must use our natural resources more efficiently
For this purpose, the production and use of technologies that will help us to apply all agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers and pesticides, should be encouraged. The use of fertilizers suitable for the characteristics of the soil in which the plant is grown, and more importantly, the production of more suitable ones should be among the priority targets. Water and chemical consumption should be reduced through the cultivation of cover crops, mulching and use of compost to improve soil quality and fertility, conserve water and attach nutrients to the soil. It should not be overlooked that advances in both conventional and organic farming help us get more products from every drop of our water and nutrients.
We have to change our eating habits
For this purpose, we should aim to get more of the product we get from the unit area directly into the stomach of the people. While only 55% of the calories obtained from crops are used in human nutrition, the rest is used as animal feed, biofuel and industrial product. However, it should not be forgotten that only a very small part of the calories in the feed given to them is passed to meat, milk and eggs of food animals. Reducing the use of edible crops for biofuels can also play an important role in meeting food needs.
We must reduce the waste and/or loss of products
It is known that 25% of the calories of the food and 50% of the total food weight are lost without consumption. In developed countries, most of the losses occur in the form of waste in homes, restaurants or supermarkets. In underdeveloped and/or developing countries, these losses usually occur between the farmer and the market due to inadequate storage and transportation conditions. In developed countries, reducing the portions, not throwing away the leftover food, and then ensuring that restaurants and supermarkets such as restaurants take measures to reduce waste can prevent great losses. In underdeveloped and/or developing countries, improving storage and transportation conditions can both increase the income of the producers and reduce the losses.
As TOROS AGRICULTURE, our primary goal is to be at the forefront in reducing and solving the problems expected for the near future of our world, which we have tried to express in the short summary here, as it has been until now, and in the formation of social awareness on these issues. While reaching this goal, it is among our priorities to spread the slogan of a more livable world in the light of scientific truths and to make our country's agriculture benefit from all kinds of technological innovations in the fastest way.
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