2018 ASHS Annual Conference

According to the reports by the United Nations, more than 800 million people in the world in 2016 were chronically undernourished. To establish a sustainable global food security, not only increasing yield and quality of food crops is needed, but also preventing/minimizing losses of the crops and products is essential. Despite losing some of the productive agricultural lands to urban developments throughout the world, there are still considerable land areas with plenty of water that can be utilized for production of food crops. However, despite vast efforts on plant protection, more than 30% of food crops and products are lost to plant pests (diseases, insects, and weeds). The losses are much higher in the developing countries than developed countries. To improve crop production and minimize the losses, establishing/strengthening national agricultural programs is essential. Productive agricultural programs require strong teaching, research, and extension establishments in every nation. Problem-solving in every area of the world should be based on the credible local research, complimented with credible and timely information-delivery to the end users. External helps are valuable, but they will be more productive if the helpers have satisfactory knowledge of the ethnical cultures of the assigned areas. With all international efforts, effective problem-solving in production of food crops, and alleviating hunger problem, in the developing countries will be achieved by local specialists.