Agriculture Ministers from 10 Mediterranean states are currently gathering in Malta to discuss food security and pricing in the region.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that a further increase of 10% in the price of grains will put up to 10 million people at risk of hunger. In July alone, the price increased by 6% and further increases are being expected in the first quarter of next year.

Mediterranean countries are net importers of food, and so the volatility in prices is likely to take its toll especially on the most vulnerable states. But the problem runs far deeper. Society forgets that all food which is produced has to be grown somewhere. Vast tracts of land have been taken up for grazing and the growing of cereals and grains. This has led to poorer soil, which coupled with drought and disease, has pushed prices up higher and higher.

One of the major factors that contributes to food and grain prices is the cost to irrigate fields. Not only, but water is a finite resource which is being depleted every day.

Europe and the West do not remember famine. The last time we experienced it was at the turn of the century, when Ireland was hit by potato blight. But famine is a reality in many parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia.

The famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s left hundreds of thousands dead, while more recent famines in North Korea killed tens of thousands of people. But what can be done? Many advocate a return to traditional farming methods, but with the world’s population now standing at 7 billion, there is simply not enough land to do it. Traditional methods of farming give lower yields, and this would mean that even more forest and natural land would have to be ‘ruined’.

Leading water scientists have predicted that the world may have to switch to an almost completely vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic changes to the planet’s ecosystem. Moreover, the impact of overfishing is being felt as global stocks continue to dwindle in the face of an ever hungrier population.

Scientists from the Stockholm International Water Institute said that humans derive around 20% of protein from animal-based products. But with the global population expected to hit the 9 billion mark by 2050, this will have to drop to about 5%.

Scientist Malik Falkenmark says: “There will be just enough water if the proportion of animal-based foods is limited to 5% of total calories and considerable regional water deficits can be met by a … reliable system of food trade.”

There are other options. Nutritionists believe that seaweed and insects are the way forward. Both are highly nutritious and can provide humans with alternative, cheap and low impact food sources. Both are eaten everywhere in the world – apart from the West. This is another stark reminder that the Western Capitalist system is unsustainable in itself. Our finances are in tatters – and so too are our food stocks. Just as we have had to adjust the way our economies work, we will have to adjust our eating habits, our water use, our sources of electricity and more. The writing is on the wall. This will happen – it is too late to turn back the clock. The only thing the West may do now is try to learn how to live more ‘frugally’ in terms of using resources. Water rationing is not pie in the sky – it has happened in the UK this year and the Mid West in the US is just vast tracts of parched dust. And on an island where most of our water is made from the sea and most of our food is purchased abroad – it is not looking too good. We must diversify now.