The current food crisis is being attributed to a variety of factors, climate change being one of them. IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) reports that there would be a major shift in crop systems. Hence, the scientists at CGIAR(Consultative Group on International Research Institute)are focusing more on  crop resilience than on crop yields. In other words, they are trying to make the existing crops more tolerant to environmental stress. The anticipated food situation in the developing countries is bleak. For example, Africa's Sahel region will produce fewer cereals. Rice cultivation in Asia will be under threat, there will be fewer vegetables with a possibility of potatoes and beans being potentially wiped out. The existence of  livestock and fisheries will be severely stressed.     

Buying capacity and not the availability of food is the  reason for the food crisis in Indonesia. --

Indonesia  which received the gold medal in 1985 from the FAO for achieving self-sufficiency in food, had become the largest recipient of food aid in 1998-1999.The reason for this is  the Asian financial crisis. People were too poor to buy food. There was food in the markets--cheap food was being dumped in the markets, which was a double whammy for the poor Indonesian farmers--but it was a fact that they were too poor to buy food. If we remove all the tariffs and all the barriers, food will flow, so people will eat. Thank you, but where will the money come from?.

Under-investment in agricultural production in many developing regions is the cause for the food crisis.

Negroponte, recipient of The World Food Prize says that some developing countries have seen key staple food double in price. In such a situation, especially in countries which are highly dependent on food imports, find its population in trouble. As anticipated by the policymakers, markets would be a key player. For this,better market connections between producers and consumers need to be strengthened. The governments should upgrade their investments in agricultural production in developing regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. However, the immediate need is the  working towards long-term solutions like increasing productivity and building capacity in the area of food security. Innovative efforts need to be put in by universities, industry, and government research centers in order to increase the agricultural base, increase harvests and  improve food storage. 

Sequencing the genome of the world’s worst insect pest augurs good news for a better harvest of crops.

Australian researchers at CSRIO and U.S. researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are likely to complete the sequencing of the Helicoverpa armigera moth genome in four months time from now. Considered as the  world's worst agricultural pest, it is estimated to cause US$5 billion  damages globally to a range of crops such as cotton, legumes, and vegetables. This genetic information about Helicoverpa armigera will help scientists better understand how the moth has developed resistance to a wide range of pesticides and in some cases to Bt toxins. "This moth is resistant to nearly every class of chemical pesticide and threatens the long-term viability of transgenic crops which are reliant on the biological pesticide.