Production of Staples-- Cereals, Roots, and Tubers

For most of the world's population, food crops (as opposed to livestock foods) provide the bulk of dietary intake. Good agricultural land is simply too scarce to be used for the inefficient process of raising food to feed animals, which, in turn, feed people. Global production of the staple (most important) food crops has increased over the last 10 years--but so has global population. In Africa, for example, despite a 30 percent increase in staple crop production since 1981, per capita food output has dropped more than 5 percent because of population growth that is faster than the growth in agricultural output. The map illustrates considerable regional differences in outputs of food staples per areal unit of cropland. Globally, 1 hectare (2.47 acres) of cropland in 1990 yielded, on average, about 2.6 metric tons (2,600 kilograms or about 5,700 pounds) of about 11.8 metric tons of roots and tubers. Yet in Africa, 1 hectare yielded only 1.2 metric tons of cereals or 7.9 metric tons of roots and tubers. In Europe, on the other hand, 1 hectare yielded 4.2 tons of cereals or 21.2 metric tons of roots and tubers. Such great differences are explainable primarily in terms of agricultural inputs: different farming methods, varying levels of fertilizers, agricultural chemicals, irrigation, and machinery. The European farmer applies 2.3 times the global average of fertilizer per hectare, the African farmer only one-fifth of the global average. These conditions are not likely to change and the map may be viewed as an indicator not just of present agricultural output but of potential food production as well.