Global challenge: How to maintain food security?

Perhaps you have clicked on this article thinking that you would see something related to ways to prevent food poisoning or how to buy safer foods. But that's not what we'll talk about. In fact, let's talk about hunger and ways to minimize it.

The IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - and other organizations around the world have presented an alarming scenario! The world population is growing and, with it, the demand for food. However, human activity and its impacts on nature are undermining agricultural practice.

A striking aspect is the increasing aridity of environments due to long periods of scarcity or lack of rainfall around the world. Now how can we produce more food with less water?

Global challenge

This is a major challenge for humanity, and at least two attitudes are extremely necessary: ​​saving water and improving agricultural practice. Conscious use of water, as you already know, is everyone's duty, so let's talk more about agricultural improvement here.

A very important knowledge when it comes to improving food crops is knowing how plants use water and how they deal with drought. Some vegetables are very sensitive to unavailability of water and among them are very important species in human food such as wheat, rice, sugar cane etc. Thus, responses must be sought from other drought-resistant or drought-tolerant organisms.

In biology, organisms that have favorable characteristics for laboratory work and the study of certain general phenomena are called model organisms. There are quite drought-resistant plants such as cacti, grasses and resurrection plants. Among these, the grasses are the most distributed on the planet. It is virtually impossible to think of anywhere in the grassless world.

But what good is studying the models? We have enough technology today that - even with difficulty - it is possible to insert genes into other organisms and thus form genetically modified organisms.

So if we know how resistant organisms cope with the unavailability of water, we can pass this trait on to those who don't handle it that well. That way we could strengthen our food and ensure food security for future generations.

Sound futuristic? Maybe so, but it is already being done. In Brazil, there are studies on a grass called Setaria viridis in search of resistance mechanisms. And it is very important that these studies are done to guarantee the food of tomorrow.

* This text is written by Marcus Cattem, Professor of Science and Biology.