Starting in the early 2000s, the named and famed billionaires of the earth embarked on a mission to colonize space. What has been rightfully termed as the space ‘race’, really turned into some sort of competition where every big name was trying to topple the other in the quest for taking over space. This included big names like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and others who have attempted to take a slice of space for themselves. But the question that has cropped up in recent times is, what about the earth? What about the planet we are inhibiting? Escaping the planet to settle into space was always meant to be a backup plan, wasn’t it? Pertinent questions are being raised about the need for investing big bucks into colonizing space when even a third of the amount could be used to solve other world problems.
One of the biggest world problems that the world has witnessed in the past few decades is hunger. The curve of the world hunger problem has been as volatile and steep as ever. The question that has been looming large is that if humans, especially the gifted individuals of society like Elon Musk and Branson can conquer space, what would it take for them to tackle something earthly?
The supply chains could begin to be localized all over the globe and this could be easily achieved if even a bit of the attention is diverted towards solving the global hunger problem. A bit of that attention could also be channeled towards solving other problems such as contributing towards the sustainability goals issued by the government of the United States. This would help in effectively combating the climate change and global warming problem but men decided to focus on abandoning the planet we are already residing in. The world hunger problem is something that requires immediate attention and this is why.
Facts Regarding the World Hunger Problem- How Steep is the Surge?
Food production has been a problem that has always affected the entire global population, irrespective of their geographical location. There is no other industry in the world that reaches out to more people in continuity as well as perpetuity than the agricultural and food industry. With the ever-increasing population globally, the pressure on the food and agricultural industry has only grown exponentially. The stats reveal that by 2050 the world would be inhabited by as many as 10 billion people and this means that more and more people will come into occupy the land that could produce food and grow crops. With the percentage of arable land decreasing every day due to industrialization and globalization, the hunger problem is about to grow even more intensely. All of this points to one underlying factor- that the world is not being fed sustainably. The food is not being distributed equitably or sustainably, which has become the reason why one part of the world is peaking in obesity stats while the other part of the world witnesses the death of malnourished children regularly.
The food distribution is not at all equitable either. An estimate tells us that about 800 million people died due to the death of food just within the year 2020. That number amounts to nearly 10% of the entire world population, which is a sizable chunk of the population. A huge chunk of the global population was and continues to be in dire need of aid but isn’t able to get access to any because the apparent leaders of the world decided to delve into outer projects at first. Obesity rates have been on the surge in several of the first world countries while the third world countries continue to feel the pangs of hunger.
To worsen the situation further, not only is food being irrationally distributed but it is also being simply wasted in enormous amounts. A lot of food reaches the garbage bin regularly after enough money and resources have been used to deliver the food to its required destination. Lastly, what has worsened the situation is the unpredictable trend that the hunger graph has been following. It is unstable. The hunger stats from the previous year show a whopping increase from the year before but most of it was a result of the volatility caused due to the disruption of the food supply chain during the covid 19 pandemic. As of now, several countries have continued to depend on larger superpowers to supply them with food. The countries that have relied on imported food have faced backlashes of hunger whenever they encountered disease or human conflict or natural disasters. The problems for these countries can only get worse in the upcoming days.
How can Farming be Revolutionized with the help of Technology?
The means to revolutionize farming abound but the need for funds and more importantly, the intent to find a solution to the hunger problem is important. If a joint effort is put into the localization of food production everywhere around the world, we are halfway there through the solution. If the amount of chemicals, water, and land required for irrigation is cut down at the same time, the results would prove to be doubly effective. The areas which receive imported food in excess need to be identified and the supply needs to be limited. The same food needs to be relocated in areas of dearth, where people suffer from a lack of food daily. Here is why the big brains like Bezos or Branson or Musk should pay attention to revolutionizing farming using technology. Firstly, technology has helped change the way farming has been going on for years. Farmers have made a conscious effort to shatter the pre-existent perceptions of the agrarian economy and have sportingly adopted new technology like machine learning and artificial intelligence, which have maximized the results of the machines. The advancements have been as varied as self-driven tractors to crop monitoring drones and several things that look like they popped out straight from a science fiction movie.
Conclusion:
The agricultural-tech industry had a leap in valuation and now receives a whopping five billion USD every year on an average. The investment in green funds boomed with the pandemic, and fingers crossed, shall continue to boom in the coming years. Whatever is there is not enough. The billionaires need to imbibe the generational drive of Gen Z and make change possible through impact investing. The problem on earth is the problem at hand, and this is the problem that requires to be solved first.
