relate to agricultural production in the long term? Can the expansion of the desert, estimated at 6 million hectares per annum, be held in check? There are many things to be worried about which may effect food production in the long and extended long term, such as what effect global warming has on the supply and demand of food etc. As far as these issues are concerned, the key research has hardly even begun, especially in the global sense. Studies into the particular issue of future demand, specifically the speed of change in the balance of the food and agricultural produce system in those rapidly developing Asian countries, notably China, and its influence on the international market, are only now just being started, as indicated by the two opposing views of optimism and pessimism.
Also, in the worldwide flow towards a free market economy, it is still necessary to deal with political issues such as how to overcome the increasing distances between farmers and their manufacturing partners, or how to achieve a new global balance that resolves the problem of hunger and malnutrition suffered by the poor and land-less farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America by considering them all as a common problem for mankind, quite aside from trying to prevent a return to the type of socialism that existed during the cold war era.
Furthermore, policy directions under the free market economy must be unambivalent, after resolving such issues as how political intervention by governments influences the global food balance or environmental matters, and what sort of international cooperation is required to control the population, agriculture, forestry and fisheries. In this case, it is not only important to determine the direction of their technological development, but also to support them in forming their food and trading policies, such as setting up long term goals to achieve self-sufficiency in foodstuffs, without being pressured by the short term policies of the advanced food exporting countries to ensure disposal of their surplus.
