Food availability databases: statistical gaps and proposals for improvement

Authors

  • Ramon Clotet Fundació Triptolemos, El Masnou, Barcelona
  • Eusebi Jarauta-Bragulat Departament d’Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental, Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria de Camins, Canals i Ports de Barcelona, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC BarcelonaTech), Barcelona
  • Yvonne Colomer Fundació Triptolemos, El Masnou, Barcelona

Keywords:

global food system, availability, photosynthesis, production, statistics, prospective.

Abstract

The availability of food for the human population (“zero hunger”) is one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved in 2015 by the United Nations (UN). The complexity of solving the problem of lack of food for the global human population requires reliable data in order to develop appropriate policies and strategies. Traditionally, photosynthetic production (agriculture, grazing livestock, fishing, etc.) has been linked to food availability but, given that part of this production goes to the global energy market (biofuels and other uses), it turns out that only a part of the total photosynthetic production reaches human food. If the most important databases of the agri-food world are analysed, both nationally and internationally, it is verified that the information they provide is not properly structured to draw up a precise balance of the different photosynthetic production/energy destinations and consequently to be able to determine the proportion really devoted to food consumption of the human population. For this reason, this paper defines a “coefficient of photosynthetic use of the food system”. Likewise, a proposal is made to adapt the statistical data to the global criteria for destination of production so that prospective studies on the global food system can be more rigorous and precise.

Keywords: global food system, availability, photosynthesis, production, statistics, prospective.

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Issue

No. 46: Juny 2019

Section

Agroforum

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