Agriculture and food safety

The Universal Exposition will be held in Milan between 1 May and 31 October 2015, and will involve participants from hundreds of Countries all over the world. The Expo 2015 theme is “Feeding the planet, energy for life”, one of the central themes of sustainable development, in a global context where 870 million people are suffering from hunger and over a billion are malnourished.

Population growth, urbanization and the change of diets will enhance global food demand, which in 2050 will be 60% higher than today’s. The resulting challenge is further exacerbated by climate change and erosion of natural resources that provide the basis for food production. The contribution of energy to food production activities mainly involves meeting the energy needs of irrigation and transformation activities. The majority of farmers in the world are those with smallholdings: intensifying and increasing access to sustainable energy sources for this large group of producers would allow to pursue the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly with regard to eradicating poverty and protecting the environment.