Crops that feed the world 10. Past successes and future challenges to the role played by wheat in global food security

Abstract

Wheat is fundamental to human civilization and has played an outstanding role in feeding a hungry world and improving global food security. The crop contributes about 20 % of the total dietary calories and proteins worldwide. Food demand in the developing regions is growing by 1 % annually and varies from 170 kg in Central Asia to 27 kg in East and South Africa. The developing regions (including China and Central Asia) account for roughly 53 % of the total harvested area and 50 % of the production. Unprecedented productivity growth from the Green Revolution (GR) since the 1960s dramatically transformed world wheat production, benefitting both producers and consumers through low production costs and low food prices. Modern wheat varieties were adopted more rapidly than any other technological innovation in the history of agriculture, recently reaching about 90 % of the area in developing regions. One of the key challenges today is to replace these varieties with new ones for better sustainability. While the GR "spared" essential ecosystems from conversion to agriculture, it also generated its own environmental problems. Also productivity increase is now slow or static. Achieving the productivity gains needed to ensure food security will therefore require more than a repeat performance of the GR of the past. Future demand will need to be achieved through sustainable intensification that combines better crop resistance to diseases and pests, adaptation to warmer climates, and reduced use of water, fertilizer, labor and fuel. Meeting these challenges will require concerted efforts in research and innovation to develop and deploy viable solutions. Substantive investment will be required to realize sustainable productivity growth through better technologies and policy and institutional innovations that facilitate farmer adoption and adaptation. The enduring lessons from the GR and the recent efforts for sustainable intensification of cereal systems in South Asia and other regions provide useful insights for the future.

Whole-Genome Mapping of Agronomic and Metabolic Traits to Identify Novel Quantitative Trait Loci in Bread Wheat Grown in a Water-Limited Environment

“…Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the world's most important food crops, contributing about onefifth of human caloric intake (Shiferaw et al, 2013) and having an international trade volume greater than all other major food crops combined (Atchison and Head, 2010). Since arable land area will not increase much beyond present levels, increasing demands for wheat must be met through improved wheat yields.…”

“…Under optimal growth conditions, either of these cultivars could yield over 10 tons ha 21 , whereas under cyclic drought conditions, their yields can drop to about 2 tons ha 21 , a loss of around 80% (Edwards, 2012). For wheat, this level of stress is common, with mean yields of only 3 tons ha 21 globally and 1.6 tons ha 21 in Australia (Shiferaw et al, 2013). The Excalibur cv is considered to be more drought tolerant than cv Kukri; under severe drought conditions, it outyields cv Kukri by between 10% and 40% (Izanloo et al, 2008;Fleury et al, 2010).…”

Statistical Modeling of Phenotypic Plasticity under Abiotic Stress in Triticum durum L. and Triticum aestivum L. Genotypes

“…Fluctuations in wheat production due to weather and climate change can have a significant impact on the world wheat supply if future wheat cultivars are not tolerant to abiotic stresses [1,19]. Hence, a better understanding of the magnitude and direction of changes in wheat grain yield, its components, and their plasticity estimates would lead to more efficient manipulation of factors underlying the acquisition, use efficiency, and resource allocation within the wheat plant [41,59,60].…”

“…The dramatic transformation of wheat production due to unprecedented productivity growth from the Green Revolution benefited both producers and consumers of wheat through low production costs and low food prices [1]. However, future challenges to the role of wheat in global food security will be shaped by its potential to produce larger yields and better nutritional quality, while increasingly…”

Assessing China's Rural Reform Programs and the Lessons for Africa's Agriculture Development. A Review

“…This state of affairs pertains despite the many years of substantial socio-economic gains in many African countries in the recent past. But ISSN 2166-0379 2017 perhaps more startling are projection that more SSA inhabitants will suffer from hunger and malnutrition in the foreseeable future (Salami et al, 2010;Shiferaw et al, 2013). Salami et al (2010) …”