Identifying agriculture land acquisitions for alleviating future food security concerns

Abstract

The total available land for food, fuel, or forests is finite, while land demand is increasing and expected to increase further in the coming decades; resulting in deterioration of food security. Therefore, the corporate world adopted a solution of acquiring international agricultural land. Consequently, the global demand for land has progressively risen, but the question requiring decision support is - which lands to acquire for food production to ensure future food security? Food Science and Technology has vital pivotal roles to play in improving this situation, as food science is inherently multidisciplinary and motivated by the use of new technologies. In this paper, we endeavour to address this multidisciplinary food science question, by considering 16 Middle East North Africa (MENA) region countries having extreme economic diversity and enormous variation in adaptive capacity. Our study parameters consist of CO₂ fertilization, water scarcity and meta-parameter of climate change vulnerability. Using logical inference and principal of separate modifiability, major food security concerns were identified for 2030.

Keywords:
food science; prediction; food security; decision support; Middle East North Africa