FAO promotes the "Energy-smart" approach to farming to escape fossil fuel trap
The global community is becoming increasingly concerned about the high dependence of the global food sector on fossil fuels. Energy from fossil fuels has increased farm mechanization, boosted fertilizer production and improved food processing and transportation.
However, high and fluctuating prices of fossil fuels and doubts regarding their future availability mean that agri-food systems need to shift to an "energy-smart" model, according to a recent FAO report Energy-Smart Food for People and Climate.
The food sector currently accounts for around 30 percent of the world’s total energy consumption and contributes over 20 percent of total GHGs emissions. The great challenge the world now faces is to develop global food systems that emit fewer GHG emissions, enjoy a secure energy supply and can respond to fluctuating energy prices while at the same time support food security and sustainable development.
The “energy-smart” approach to farming indicates both how agriculture can be more energy efficient by adapting current practices at each stage of the supply chain to become less energy intensive, and how agriculture can produce more of the energy needed to feed the planet and help rural development.
According to the report this transformation will require a transformation along the entire food chain and will involve: • relying more on low-carbon energy systems and using energy more efficiently; • strengthening the role of renewable energy within food systems; • providing greater access to modern energy services for development, and at the same time supporting the achievement of national food security and sustainable development goals.
The FAO report provides examples of energy-smart practices for both small-and large-scale enterprises and covers the entire food sector, reminding also the importance of reducing food losses and of improving access to modern energy services to the millions of people who still use biomass in a non traditional way as energy for cooking and heating.
You can read more on the topic on the FAO website.
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