Much of the increases in yield per unit of area can be attributed to more efficient control of (biotic) stress rather than an increase in yield potential. To make agriculture more productive and profitable in the face of rising costs and rising standards of human and environmental health, the best combination of available technologies has to be used. Whilst technology will undoubtedly hold many of the keys to long-term global food security, there is a lot we can do today with existing knowledge (Fig. The increase in production will occur at the same time as the climate is changing and becoming less predictable, as greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture need to be cut, and as land and water resources are shrinking or deteriorating. Part of the key is also to avoid waste along the whole length of the food chain. Given these limitations, sustainable production and increasing productivity on existing land is by far the better choice. The provision of additional agricultural land is limited, as agricultural expansion would have to happen mostly at the expense of forests and the natural habitats of wildlife, wild relatives of crops and natural enemies of crop pests. At the same time, agriculture has to meet at a global level a rising demand for food, feed, fibre, biofuel and other bio-based commodities. In addition to the pre-harvest losses, food chain losses are also relatively high (IWMI 2007). Globally, an average of 35 % of potential crop yield is lost to pre-harvest pests (Oerke 2005). However, as long as there is a demand for pesticide-based solutions to pest control problems and food security concerns, the externality problems associated with the human and environmental health effects of pesticides need also to be addressed. The general public has a critical function in determining the future role of pesticides in agriculture.
This review presents (1) worldwide crop losses due to pests, (2) estimates of pesticide-related productivity, and costs and benefits of pesticide use, (3) approaches to reduce yield losses by chemical, as well as biological and recombinant methods of pest control and (4) the challenges of the crop-protection industry. The reduction of current yield losses caused by pests is a major challenge to agricultural production. Given these limitations, sustainable production at elevated levels is urgently needed. Thus, we need to grow food on even less land, with less water, using less energy, fertiliser and pesticide than we use today. Furthermore, more agricultural land will be used to produce bio-based commodities such as biofuel or fibre instead of food. Any expansion will happen mostly at the expense of forests and the natural habitats containing wildlife, wild relatives of crops and natural enemies of crop pests. The availability of additional agricultural land is limited. greater consumption of meat and milk products and to the increasing use of grains for livestock feed.
This increased population density is projected to increase demand for food production by 70 % notably due to changes in dietary habits in developing countries towards high quality food, e.g.
The 7 billion global population is projected to grow by 70 million per annum, increasing by 30 % to 9.2 billion by 2050.