"Animal" eloquence!The rations of 1 billion people have fallen

Text ｜ Wang Fang

When millions of people around the world are facing famine or malnutrition threats, livestock and fish feed are occupying limited natural resources that can be used to produce human food.

Dutch researchers have recently published a paper in "Nature -Food" that adjusting the feeding method of livestock and fish can provide more foods while maintaining production. This relatively simple change will significantly increase the global food supply, providing heat for 13%of the population without increasing the use of any natural resources or making major diet.

At present, about 1/3 of the grains are used as animal feed, and the fish captured 1/4 have not become human food. The team led by Alto University Associate Professor Matti Kummu studied the potential of using crop residues and food by -products in livestock and aquaculture to "release" raw materials that can be used to feed humans.

"This is the first time to collect food and feed flow in land and aquatic systems in detail worldwide, and combine them to study," Kummu explained.

The team analyzes the flow of grain, feed and its by -products and residues in the global grain production system. They then determined to change these flow links to produce better results. For example, livestock and fish can feed the by -products of the food production system -beet or citrus pulp, animal by -products, and even crop residues, not raw materials suitable for humans.

Through these changes, up to 10%to 26%of grains and 17 million tons of fish (about 11%of the current supply of aquatic products) can be transformed from animal feed to human food. According to the specific situation, the increase in food supply will reach 6%to 13%, and the protein content will reach 9%to 15%.

The first author of the study, Vilma Sandstrom of Alto University, said: "This does not seem to be much, but this is equivalent to the food of 1 billion people."

The previous research by the Kummu team showed that reducing half of food losses and waste will increase food supply by about 12%. "In addition, the use of by -products as feed will add about 1/4 of food," he said.

Some people believe that feeding crop residues to livestock will lead to its decline in productivity. In addition, human foods that are currently "squeezed out" from livestock and aquaculture are actually different from foods used by people. For example, the feed industry uses different varieties of corn, and fish for fish powder is often a small bone fish that is not welcomed by consumers.

"However, once overcoming these obstacles may bring substantial benefits. To get these benefits, you need to adjust the supply chain. For example, processing some by -products as feed," Sandstrom said.

Researchers said that this is not something that must be developed from scratch. People only need to adjust the current system to add some useful practices.

Related thesis information:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00589-6

"China Science News" (2022-09-22 The 2nd edition of the international title "Change the animal feed to provide food for 1 billion people")

Edit | Zhao Lu

Capture | Zhihai

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