**10. The role of technology in food security**

With the world population expected to reach over 9 billion by 2050, the global demand for food is projected to increase by at least 2.5 times over current levels [22]. The challenges of feeding over 9 billion people by 2050 in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way cannot be met without the continued innovation and adoption of new technologies. To achieve notable increases in agricultural productivity, technology and innovations must be applied to the entire agricultural supply chain. From notable advances in biotechnology that can make more efficient use of water and fertilizers and reduce pesticides, to bio-fortification, improved crop varieties and best practices to reduce post-harvest losses and improve irrigation methods, a science-based approach to new and existing technologies must be applied to maximize their potential benefits worldwide. These technologies, along with traditional breeding approaches, are all essential to meeting the demands being placed on agricultural productivity [22].

Throughout the last century, the potential increase in agricultural productivity has been achieved by adopting and applying innovative agricultural technologies worldwide. These increases have not only bolstered food security, but have helped minimize the environmental impacts of agriculture. This is critical, because loss of biodiversity and habitat in turn lead to desertification, loss of fresh water sources, and greater food insecurity. Major innovations in mechanization, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and plant and animal management and breeding techniques provided the basis for the fivefold increase in US agricultural output over the twentieth century. This increase in output was achieved with less land and labour, and in recent years with less energy and chemical use per unit of output [23].

In many parts of the world – particularly South and East Asia – growth in agricultural productivity has been rapid, largely as a result of the extensive adoption of new agricultural technologies. For millions of poor people, particularly in Asia, the technological advances of the Green Revolution (complemented by a massive increase in irrigation) provided a route out of poverty through: directly increasing producer incomes and wages; lowering the price of food; and generating new livelihood opportunities as success in agriculture provided the basis for economic diversification. Asian industrialization was in essence agriculturally led [24]. Despite decades of investment in new agricultural technology however, hunger and poverty continue to plague large areas of the developing world. The problem is particularly acute in areas of the world dependent upon rain-fed agriculture, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, where the impact of new technologies has been less apparent and agricultural productivity has at best stagnated, and may even have fallen in some areas.
