Jun 6, 2010 - Editor's notebook. The note from Dr. Kutty (at right) was received by .... Email: [email protected]. 10 April 2008. Dr. Gulbrandsen responds.
Editor’s notebook The note from Dr. Kutty (at right) was received by the editorial staff of World Aquaculture in March of this year. As you will see, it relates to a paper by Jon Gulbrandsen published in the December 2009 issue (pp 1011,70). Aside from some adjustments in formatting to fit our style, the note and the article, “World Food Crisis, FAO Alert and India,” which is published below, have not been modified.
Comments on Dr. Jon Gulbrandsen’s “Solving the food crisis – on an ocean planet,” World Aquaculture, December 2009 The following note, “World Food Crisis, FAO Alert and India” was written by me specifically to alert some in India in 2008. I feel this is still relevant from the context of Dr. Jon Gulbrandsen’s “Solving the food crisis – on an ocean planet”, which appeared in World Aquaculture Vol. 40 No. 4 December 2009. I agree with Dr. Gilbrandson’s stress on the need for turning to the oceans for solving global food crisis, but would prefer to concentrate more on primary production systems as the main source for food. In any case, on a long term basis, it might help if we tap more the more basal and efficient trophic systems for food production, choosing first those close to human needs and preferences, but it seems that from the present world context the turn of research intensification will be decided more by the preferences of the donors and investors rather than that of the food needs of the less privileged, which are more seriously under threat now. Current address: Narayan Kutty 802 Betlin Ave Cupertino, CA 95014, USA
World Food Crisis, FAO Alert and India M.N. Kutty The world food crisis is getting closer than expected as alerted in FAO Director General Jacques Diouf ’s recent (2008) announcement. Some well considered steps taken soon might avert a major collapse in India, from the immediate context, as indicated by the Central Minister for Food. However, our long-term perspective of provision of adequate food for the teeming masses, in spite of some population control measures (implemented more effectively in China), has to change drastically. The landbased food production systems, despite further expansion and intensification, are limiting. We have to turn to water and not too much to land for additional food production, through available sustainable technologies and evolving new innovations, which would ensure our food and nutritional security. After all, as understood water is the medium of transfer of energy and nutrients in food production systems whether in land or water – obviously the reason for the beginning of life in water, the trick of energy synthesis and trapping using sunlight and nutrients, one in which
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we heavily depend on. A cubic metre of water can be much more productive, useful and easier to deal with in this context, if judiciously managed. Let us prepare to spread from land to water – modifying our present food production systems and taking to new foods, on priority, if not in our immediate and short term development efforts, in the long term perspective and cultivate water more and cultivate sustainability; the recourse is through aquaculture for food to save the planet and man, delaying a little perhaps, our race to conquer the outer space. So the time we spend in its (aqua) development would spell more than what it ever did. Besides hydroponics, both edible plants and aquatic animals/fish etc can be farmed immediately by expanding available aquaculture technologies in the inland and near-shore waters (in which also China excels by producing about 70 percent of global production, probably achieved through China’s greater needs as well as vision, while India is a poor second, accounting for only
