By Faridat Salifu
Global food and agriculture leaders have warned that the world is $4.5 trillion short of the investment needed to secure a sustainable food system capable of feeding future generations.
Speaking at the Fortune Global Forum in Saudi Arabia recently , Sunny Verghese, Chief Executive Officer of Olam Group, said the current global food supply chain is under immense pressure from limited arable land, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and water shortages.
“We need about $4.5 trillion of investment in finding the next breakthroughs to secure a sustainable food future,” Verghese said, adding that the world is not yet committing enough resources toward these innovations.
He noted that at current productivity growth rates, the world would need 593 million hectares of land—twice the size of India—each year to meet rising food demands, a situation he described as “unsustainable.”
Former U.S. Ambassador for Food and Agriculture to the United Nations, Ertharin Cousin, shared a different perspective, arguing that while the world produces enough calories, access to nutritious food remains limited.
“There are 2.4 billion people today who can’t afford a diverse and nutritious diet because we don’t grow what is required to support dietary diversity,” said Cousin, who now heads FSF Ventures, a nonprofit promoting sustainable food business models.
She emphasised that global food systems must evolve to deliver both nutritional and environmental benefits, warning that affordability remains the biggest challenge.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), however, paints a cautiously optimistic outlook, projecting that global food insecurity will decline this year.
According to its Global Food Assessment, per-capita income in 83 low- and middle-income countries is expected to grow by 3.7 percent, while food price inflation is forecast to ease, reducing the number of food-insecure people by 221 million to about 604 million, or 13.5 percent of the world’s population.
Despite this progress, experts maintain that sustainable transformation requires massive private and public investment in agricultural innovation.
Cousin said technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), biological tools, and renewable energy solutions could increase productivity on existing farmland, reducing pressure on natural ecosystems.
“We have the responsibility to identify the investment capital necessary to support multi-sectoral innovations from farm to consumer that will make food more affordable, available, and sustainable,” she said.
Analysts at the forum agreed that achieving long-term food security will depend on collaborative global efforts that balance productivity, nutrition, and environmental sustainability.
