Whereas over 800 million lives face starvation, about a third of the total food produced internationally, goes to waste. Reports by FAO reveal that the mass wastage is attributed to poor storage and the transportation challenges. Several innovations have therefore come up to save these millions of lives.
Insect rearing, mushroom growing, and improvements in engineering skills, have been the breakthrough in fighting hunger. Here are few concrete examples for you to think about;
Solar Assisted Water Pumps
Adequate food production is hindered by the prolonged period of droughts. Unreliable rainfalls and seasonal rivers make farming more or less a gambling activity. In cases where there few boreholes for example in Sudan, pumping out water for irrigation is expensive. But with the introduction of solar driven pumps, food production cost has gone down significantly. Thus incorporating solar pumps into your farm makes irrigating fruits and vegetables cheaper. Free water means bumper harvest and even achieving economic stability.
Insect Rearing
Livestock farming has huge benefits, but it requires a lot of resources. Therefore it isn’t easy to practice in developing countries. A large population in third world countries is very poor and can’t afford animal keeping. Technology has, thus, come up with a cheaper alternative; insect rearing. Insects keeping are better as compared to livestock farming on the following basis;
• The practice very little amount of space
• It requires very little amount of resources like water or nutrients
• Insects are excellent source of protein
Thus it has been a good source of protein in democratic republic of Congo
Innovative Mobile Apps
One of the best ways to ending food insecurity is creating the right communication links with farmers. So, one proven method is the use of mobile apps to share information. When farmers are sensitized and assisted to own Smartphones, communicating the following pieces of information becomes easier;
• Alerting farmers on the right seed varieties to use depending on their locations
• Training farmers in adopting new and efficient farming techniques like climate-smart agriculture
• Alerting farmers in time about drought patterns and natural calamities.
• Solutions to common diseases and pests
Such creativity in engineering skills and developing mobile apps have been helpful to farmers in countries like Kenya and Guatemala.
Innovative Farming
Overpopulation and cultivating the same crop on the same farm continually renders such a farm obsolete. Cultivating such exhausted pieces of land bears miserable harvests leading to food insecurity. Great inventions have been made to help improve the soil fertility, maintain the water cycle and preserve forest cover. Such quality farming techniques are already taking roots in Cameroon. A locally based association is helping farmers use green care plants to improve soil cover and fertility. It has also incorporated innovative food production practices such as mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, and rapid yam farming.
From the pieces of evidence cited above, you can, therefore, tell that innovations have helped to reduce food insecurity problems. Consequently pumping more resources into innovative research will yield even better solutions. For example, there is the untapped potentiality in soilless agriculture. Such farming technique will ease food production in areas with poor agricultural soil.
