Ireland needs to move away from an “over reliance” on imported fertiliser, pesticides and seeds, according to President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.

The President described these imports as part of a “colonially imposed” global food system, which has created an over-dependence on a small number of food staples.

He made his comments during an address at the United Nations World Food Forum in Rome on Monday.

President Higgins took aim at food waste and warned that it is worsening a global hunger crisis, where over half of the world’s eight billion people are defined as malnourished.

He said that despite this “sobering” statistic, 1.6bn tonnes of primary food production are wasted each year in developed countries where obesity levels continue to spiral.

“Such food wastage results in an unnecessary carbon footprint estimated at 3.3bn tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions being released into the atmosphere each year.

“Similarly, 1.4bn hectares of land – 28% of the world’s agricultural area – is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted,” he explained.

President Higgins also suggested that food ‘speculation’ in crops must be tackled, especially in wheat production.

“While recent volatile prices for crops are certainly a result of geopolitical movements as well as weather forecasts, these variations have been exacerbated, as studies of recent famines show, by excessive financial speculation, a speculation that is also affecting transparency as to reserves,” he warned.

Wheat

The President also highlighted the concentration of wheat reserves among just a few nations.

“China now holds over half of all wheat reserves globally. Excessive stockpiling is driving up international food prices, having devastating consequences for poorer food-insecure nations,” he said.