The finding is consistent with a trend showing that people in all regions of the world have consumed more calories since 2000, with the highest increase in Asian countries in 2021.
Europe and North America consumed the most calories last year – at 3,540 per day – while African nations consumed the least: 2,600. Oceania’s calorie count was closest to that of the United States and Europe at about 3,150.
heat is on
Data from the UN agency also shows that average temperatures in 2021 were more than 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than between 1951 and 1980.
Europe recorded the highest temperature change, followed by Asia, while Oceania reported by far the smallest change.
Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural land also fell by four percent between 2000 and 2020, according to the FAO, with 70 percent generated on farms.
Rice leads to emissions
The UN agency’s 2022 Statistical Yearbook also notes that while cattle emit about 50 times more carbon dioxide than chickens, growing rice emits five times more carbon into the atmosphere than wheat and coarse grains.
Based on data from more than 20,000 indicators covering more than 245 countries and territories, FAO researchers have found that 866 million people work in agriculture today.
Rich harvest
That number represents more than a quarter of the global job market and is worth $3.6 trillion; Compared to 2000, this means “a 78 percent increase in economic value produced by 16 percent fewer people, with Africa growing twice as fast,” the UN agency said.
Since 2000, production of primary crops such as sugar cane, corn, wheat and rice increased 52 percent from 2000 to 2020 to 9.3 billion tons.
Vegetable oil production increased by 125 percent during this period, and palm oil production by 236 percent. Meat production, led by chicken, grew 45 percent, while fruits and vegetables saw growth of 20 percent or less.
Among the staggering array of facts provided by the FAO that could well appear in a pub quiz, sugar cane is the world’s largest crop by volume, at 1.9 million tonnes annually. Corn is next at 1.2 million tons.
A farmer transplants rice in a paddy field in the Philippines.
International takeaways
In addition, global food exports have risen to $1.42 trillion, a 3.7-fold increase since the turn of the century.
The largest gross food exporting countries in the world are the USA, the Netherlands and China. The largest net exporters – those who export more than they import – were by far Brazil, followed by Argentina and Spain. The largest net importing countries were China, Japan and Great Britain.
An unbelievable 4.74 billion hectares of the earth’s surface is agricultural land, including meadows and pastures and arable crops.
Yet the total area used for agriculture has declined by three percent since 2000, and it is six times lower per capita than at the turn of the century, with Africa again at the forefront.
Old formula
FAO data experts also noted that global pesticide use peaked in 2012 and declined in 2017. The countries with the highest use of pesticides per hectare are St. Lucia, the Maldives and Oman.
