Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?

Reducing the impacts of agriculture on the environment is one of the greatest challenges of this century. In Brazil, it is often argued that more land use change is needed to achieve food security. However, analyses seeking to understand the dynamics between agricultural production for exports and f...

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Autores principales:	João Pompeu, Camille L Nolasco, Paul West, Pete Smith, Jacqueline Gerage, Jean Ometto
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/011bb218c3de47bba1e4be82268c73e5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:011bb218c3de47bba1e4be82268c73e52021-11-25T06:19:05ZIs domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0251778https://doaj.org/article/011bb218c3de47bba1e4be82268c73e52021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251778https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Reducing the impacts of agriculture on the environment is one of the greatest challenges of this century. In Brazil, it is often argued that more land use change is needed to achieve food security. However, analyses seeking to understand the dynamics between agricultural production for exports and food intended for the Brazilian population have not approached the question if national agriculture is sufficient to provide Brazilians with the necessary nutrients, according to nutritional recommendations. In this sense, we sought to combine supply and dietary requirements for food (calories and nutrients) to assess trends in nutrient production and how future population projections and possible changes in diets would affect land necessity for nutritional security. We use sub-national data on agricultural production, population, Food Balance Sheets from FAO, and a compilation of nutritional information on the Brazilian agricultural production. Our results show that, in the last three decades, Brazil produced enough food calories to feed on average 115% of its population. We found that the agricultural land in 2017, without any expansion, is sufficient to feed, at least, 105% of projected population in 2060, considering the same productivity and dietary patterns. In a vegan diet scenario, less than 10% of the land dedicated to agricultural production in the past 30 years would be required. Despite limitations on supplying certain micro-nutrients, a vegan diet would require even less land in the future. We conclude that Brazilian agriculture could deliver enough food to meet Brazilians' nutritional needs without further land expansion. Food production is compatible with environmental conservation in Brazil, especially if meat consumption is reduced.João PompeuCamille L NolascoPaul WestPete SmithJacqueline GerageJean OmettoPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 5, p e0251778 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q João Pompeu Camille L Nolasco Paul West Pete Smith Jacqueline Gerage Jean Ometto Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?
description	Reducing the impacts of agriculture on the environment is one of the greatest challenges of this century. In Brazil, it is often argued that more land use change is needed to achieve food security. However, analyses seeking to understand the dynamics between agricultural production for exports and food intended for the Brazilian population have not approached the question if national agriculture is sufficient to provide Brazilians with the necessary nutrients, according to nutritional recommendations. In this sense, we sought to combine supply and dietary requirements for food (calories and nutrients) to assess trends in nutrient production and how future population projections and possible changes in diets would affect land necessity for nutritional security. We use sub-national data on agricultural production, population, Food Balance Sheets from FAO, and a compilation of nutritional information on the Brazilian agricultural production. Our results show that, in the last three decades, Brazil produced enough food calories to feed on average 115% of its population. We found that the agricultural land in 2017, without any expansion, is sufficient to feed, at least, 105% of projected population in 2060, considering the same productivity and dietary patterns. In a vegan diet scenario, less than 10% of the land dedicated to agricultural production in the past 30 years would be required. Despite limitations on supplying certain micro-nutrients, a vegan diet would require even less land in the future. We conclude that Brazilian agriculture could deliver enough food to meet Brazilians' nutritional needs without further land expansion. Food production is compatible with environmental conservation in Brazil, especially if meat consumption is reduced.
format	article
author	João Pompeu Camille L Nolasco Paul West Pete Smith Jacqueline Gerage Jean Ometto
author_facet	João Pompeu Camille L Nolasco Paul West Pete Smith Jacqueline Gerage Jean Ometto
author_sort	João Pompeu
title	Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?
title_short	Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?
title_full	Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?
title_fullStr	Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?
title_full_unstemmed	Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?
title_sort	is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in brazil?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/011bb218c3de47bba1e4be82268c73e5
work_keys_str_mv	AT joaopompeu isdomesticagriculturalproductionsufficienttomeetnationalfoodnutrientneedsinbrazil AT camillelnolasco isdomesticagriculturalproductionsufficienttomeetnationalfoodnutrientneedsinbrazil AT paulwest isdomesticagriculturalproductionsufficienttomeetnationalfoodnutrientneedsinbrazil AT petesmith isdomesticagriculturalproductionsufficienttomeetnationalfoodnutrientneedsinbrazil AT jacquelinegerage isdomesticagriculturalproductionsufficienttomeetnationalfoodnutrientneedsinbrazil AT jeanometto isdomesticagriculturalproductionsufficienttomeetnationalfoodnutrientneedsinbrazil
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Is domestic agricultural production sufficient to meet national food nutrient needs in Brazil?

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