Talk:Sustainable Development Goal 2

Further work to be done

I am listing some further work to be done, hopefully someone has time for it:

• Work on the lead so that it is a good summary of the article. There should be no content in the lead that is not also in the article; and not too much detail in the lead. The lead should be about 4 paragraphs long.
• Look for use of the word "we" and replace with different wording that sounds more encyclopedic and not like an essay.
• Add some images (photos and maps (maps from SDG tracker)).
• Add page numbers to the exact location in the reports that were cited (this is not critical but nice to have).
• Check and rearrange wording where it says e.g. "Organisation X stated that Ghana is major problems.[5] " we can normally change it to "Ghana has major problems.[5]" because the reference in [5] would say which organisation and year it was. However, when it's a huge important org, like WHO, then sometimes it sounds more impressive to leave it as "WHO stated that". But check, since we are not writing a literature review but an encyclopedia.
• The third paragraph under "progress" needs a citation. It may also need simplifying of the language.
• More wikilinks to other Wikipedia articles should be added (in the lead, then in the first section and possibly again towards the end; but not each time where the word appears). Also add wikilinks from those other articles back to the SDG 2 article where appropriate (I have started to do that for hunger already).
• Perhaps add a couple of external links at the very end (but not more than 1-4). EMsmile (talk) 15:16, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Accomplished Tasks

Third paragraph of the progress has been cited, added wikilinks, reduced spaces where necessary, added punctuations and custodian agencies. James Moore200 (talk)

Text block removed

I've removed this text block that had been added by a new editor in 2021 because I felt it was digressing too much from SDG 2 and not written in encyclopedic style.

Extended content

Supply of agricultural materials: During covid-19, the transportation was blocked and the supply of agricultural materials was tight. Agricultural departments at all levels successively issued a series of policies to ensure the normal transportation of downstream agricultural materials.

New challenges brought by the pandemic: The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has spread worldwide and will cause interference to the international grain market. Food costs have been at an all-time high on the international market since December 2019. The food price index released by FAO in January 2020 increased by 2.8% month to month, reaching the highest value since May 2018. To deal with grain crises caused by various public emergencies and natural disasters, we need a robust grain reserve regulating system and emergency management mechanism.

The development of agricultural intelligence has been sparked by Covid-19. The most significant difficulty that Covid-19 has posed to the grain planting and processing industry is a labor shortage. Farmers with automated production and artificial intelligence technologies, on the other hand, have a greater edge in this pandemic and a better ability to respond to emergencies. In the future, smart agriculture will become a growing trend.

New Technologies

To address the increasing challenge of attaining the SDG 2 goal of Zero Hunger, new research has emerged on some of the new technologies that can be implemented to increase agricultural productivity and address the issues of climate change. Climate change is likely to continue slowing the estimated reductions in hunger, especially in the coming decades, increasing the number of people that are at the risk of hunger to over 16 million by 2030. To mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, increasing investment in agricultural technology is required to enhance agricultural productivity. Furthermore, increased agricultural R&D will lower the prevalence of hunger among 55 million people in Africa. When agricultural intensification is needed, increased investment in capital technology is required to increase the overall productivity while minimizing the carbon footprint of farming. Advancing technology, such as robots and mechanization, is one of the many economic benefits. At the same time, pay attention to the following points: 1. Water efficiency - water conservation and pollution. 2. Switch to sustainable materials. An increase in new technology investment will have a substantial influence on solving climate change concerns and reaching the SDG 2 goal of Zero Hunger.

It has been recommended that the use of carbon smart technologies should be used to improve the chemical and physical qualities of soil, which can aid in mitigating GHG emissions and increase crop yields. Crop residue retention, tillage, agroforestry, land use management systems, biofuels, and integrated nutrient management are some of the Carbon Smart Technologies advised. USA-Based Remote-Sensing Imagery has also been looked at to support SDG 2. As increases of small mammals pose a threat to crop production, the technology seeks to create a balance in the ecosystem. As a result, new advancements such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) will have a substantial impact on the commercial and scientific applications of remote sensing. There has also been research into the use of Clustered regular interspace short palindromic repeats-associated protein (CRSPR-Cas) technology. It can be utilized to improve food crops and aid in the development of future crops in order to assist in the eradication of global hunger.

It is critical that new agricultural technologies improve sustainability to reduce the impact that agriculture has on the environment. In order to handle the mounting issues of climate change the new tech should be able to provide sustainable solutions, which can assist in the achievement of SDG 2's zero hunger goal.

Table of soil processes, attributes, and indicators improved by perennial crops.

Shift to Annual-based Agriculture

The ongoing effort to enhance food production has put a major strain on world soil resources. Tillage, the absence of continuous year-round plant cover, the lack of continuous deep root systems and crop functional variety, and inadequate nutrient budgets have all contributed to soil degradation. In order to support high yielding food production, the use of degraded land for agricultural production is used, employing this type of land demands ever increasing management interventions. Management interventions used often exacerbate land degradation by increasing soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) losses. Perennialization, or the use of perennial crops and forages in extended cycles, has been viewed as a critical strategy for maintaining present and future crop yields needed to feed the world's population.

Perennialization can help with soil fertility restoration, soil carbon sequestration, nitrogen (N) availability, and phosphorus (P) retention, all of which are important parts of ecological nutrient management. Traditional farming methods commonly result in soil organic carbon loss. Perennialization may also help with climate mitigation methods by promoting high-aggregation soils that are more equipped to withstand large precipitation events. Perennials are an important part of sustainable soil management and can assist in achieving the goal of zero hunger.

Importance of Fisheries

Inland fish provide food and livelihoods for billions of people throughout the world, and they are critical to the proper functioning of freshwater ecosystems. However, these services are noticeably absent from development talks and initiatives, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Inland fisheries are small-scale, subsistence-based fisheries that are caught and consumed locally. In the developing world, fishes are a valuable source of protein, as well as micronutrients. Inland native fishes are particularly important as a source of protein as other sources are either unavailable or too expensive, and hence are rarely consumed. Essential micronutrients such as vitamins D and B, minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, iron, and selenium) and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) are highly bioavailable and found in abundance in fish.

There are subpopulations in Africa, South America, and Asia that are disproportionately reliant on inland fisheries. Recent study found that diet variety scores would decline from three to two if fish were eliminated from meals [diets in Sub-Saharan African children], increasing the risk of micronutrient deficiencies. As a result, it's critical that policies protect the present supply of nutrient-dense fish for the children who rely on fish for their diet quality.

The significance of inland fisheries to global food security is currently underestimated due to insufficient evaluation and data availability. Inland fisheries have been overlooked in favor of other benefits that freshwater can provide, such as: electricity, municipal use, and agricultural irrigation. Inland fisheries are commonly underrepresented or ignored in national and municipal water development decision-making processes as a result.

As a result, if we are to achieve the goal of zero hunger, we must recognize the importance inland fisheries have on global nutrition.

GM crops

The rapid growth of the world population requires the development of new technologies to feed people adequately; even now, an eighth of the world's people go to bed hungry. The genetic modification of food plants can help meet part of this challenge. In the mid-1990s, genome breeding methods and transformation techniques modified by mutation and transgene improved plant traits and produced high-yielding crop varieties. The CRISPR-CAS technology has helped improve the quality and efficiency of crop varieties through improved photosynthesis to achieve zero hunger and overcome malnutrition in a short period of time. Traditional crop domestication is a long process, but CRISPR's MGE system can significantly speed up that process. In addition to major food crops, orphan crops, such as millet (Panicum miliaceum), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), cassava (Manihot esculenta), yam (Dioscorea sp.), etc., can also be easily modified through MGE systems to boost the food supply.

We know that iron deficiency is a global problem and that second-best zinc supplements are more common than previously thought. A number of programmes have been developed to prevent and treat iron and zinc deficiency, ranging from the supplement and fortification of common staple foods to changes in traditional food preparation methods, where genetic modification of plants to improve micronutrient nutrition is a complementary approach. Increasing the micronutrient content of conventional crops and/or increasing the bioavailability of iron and zinc in such crops can improve the micronutrient nutrition of the population eating these crops. Beta-carotene enhances iron absorption in humans and has a direct stimulating effect on iron uptake by cells. One of the most famous iron absorption promoters is ascorbic acid. Increased ascorbic acid in the diet results in a significant increase in iron absorption in the body. Therefore, the overexpression of ascorbic acid in plants may positively affect human iron nutrition. For example, Golden Rice is a genetically modified Rice variety developed with the help of Syngenta, an American seed company. The edible part of the endosperm of rice has been genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A in the body and can alleviate vitamin A deficiency. The carotene gives the rice its golden colour, hence the name "golden rice".

Future of agriculture: The global population continues to grow and will surpass 9.5 billion by 2050. Demand for food is expected to double by 2050. If we do not use genetically modified crops we will have to use more land for farming, We need an additional 120 million acres to maintain the status quo. That's roughly the size of California. This pressure on land for agriculture means more wetlands will be drained, and an increase in deforestation. We need more land to feed our diet. As a result, we need to realize the importance of GM crops to achieve zero hunger.

References

EMsmile (talk) 13:41, 13 March 2023 (UTC)