Probiotics and food sustainability

Abstract

Asia is home to almost two thirds of the world’s population and as a consequence faces unprecedented food security and food safety challenges. In addition, major weather and climatic changes have been occurring, and in the last 18 months, there have been floods (Thailand, Sri Lanka), heat waves (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) and often times droughts. The oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising, which will impact on low - lying countries, such as the Maldives. Persistent and increased human activities in developing countries have resulted in dec lining groundwater reserves due to over - extraction, and emissions from the ever increasing number of motor vehicles as well as the burning of coal and the cutting down of forests. These activities have all accelerated the product ion of greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These gases around the earth trap the sun’s heat in a process that some call ‘global warming’, but it is better classified as ‘climate change’. The impacts of climate change on temperature and rainfall will influence agricultural crop yields, food safety and security, especially for developing countries, which unlike the western developed world may not have the financial resources to mitigate many of these effects. All these factors raise challenges for Asian agricultural and food scientists in the 21st century to breed more resilient, drought - resistant nutritious crops and food producing animals and to improve food storage and fine tune supply chains to reduce food losses. In the future, major food production foci will need to be on soil biology, crop science, nutrient cycling, soil, water, energy, carbon conservation, and the development of more advanced pesticides and more - hardy crops to boost yields to maximise clean, green, safe food production.