PwC sounds alarm: Global food crisis looms

The world needs to treat food security and affordability as critical issues for global prosperity and well-being, says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Africa Assurance Partner Andrew Dale.

“Just as agriculture was a key building block in the post-World War II era of reconstruction, our food economy needs to be rebuilt again but this time, it needs to be done sustainably,” Dale said.

Global food crisis

According to PwC Africa, the rest of the world is facing a food crisis.

It said food shortages were caused by supply chain disruptions emanating from various events across the world, such as the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

“It has amplified long-term challenges to the sustainability of global food production, including population growth, climate change and increased reliance on resource intensive farming,” Dale said.

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The United Nations Committee on World Food Security defined food security as “all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life”.

Sustainability core of aquaponics

Aquaponic farmer Gugulethu Mahlangu said sustainability was core when it came to aquaponics – a food production system that couples aquaculture with hydroponics to grow vegetables, plants, trees and farm fish.

Mahlangu acknowledged there should be sustainability in all aspects of farming. She said climate change was real and farmers had to move their planting dates.

“Sustainable agriculture is going to be at the heart of it, because we are going to focus on rebuilding. Nature gives just as much as we take from it, so if we start looking at conserving the little we have, planting more trees, growing food gardens.

We can still grow food on top of the roofs even in cities,” Mahlangu stated.

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“The rural communities no longer rely on the import of food. So the more we start focusing on sustainability and rebuilding where we are, our economy will grow,” she added.

Sustainability concerns

PwC noted sustainability concerns were gaining recognition and understanding across the continent.

Food producers and their partners were reportedly beginning to explore new sustainable agricultural practices.

PwC’s report, The sustainable food revolution: Future-proofing the world’s food supply, examined strategies the food industry could employ to meet the anticipated future demand for nutrition sustainably, without substantial increases in food prices.

These included reducing food losses in the supply chain, adopting cleaner and greener methods of food production and implementing food substitutions at the consumption level.

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AI applied to African agriculture

Artificial intelligence (AI) expert Kerushan Govender said AI was increasingly being applied in African agriculture to enhance productivity, efficiency and sustainability.

He noted key applications included precision farming, pest and disease detection and crop yield prediction.

But Govender also said the main challenges were limited access to technology, high costs, lack of infrastructure and skills gaps.

To overcome these barriers, there was a need for investment in digital infrastructure, training programmes for farmers and agricultural workers, and affordable, user-friendly AI solutions.