PKS: Climate Change Also Threatens Food Industry, Innovation Can Help

Prievidza, November 11 (TASR) - Climate change also threatens the food industry, while faster introduction of changes and innovations in technologies will help mitigate its consequences, representatives of the food sector, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, academia and the scientific community concurred at a conference on innovation and investment in the food industry at Nestle plant in Prievidza (Trencin region) on Monday. "In the context of climate change in particular and the growth of the earth's population, it is expected that we'll need to increase production globally by 50-70 percent, but at the same time we'll be able to use 20-50 percent less resources. The earth's capacities will reach their limits and without new technologies and innovative solutions we won't be able to meet this demand for food," said Slovak Food Chamber (PKS) head Daniel Poturnay. According to him, farmers should count on new, more resistant cultivars, and the food industry must also adapt - innovate and increase technological capabilities. "Slovakia lags far behind other countries in the European Union (EU). Insufficient support is provided to increase competitiveness and technological equipment. The challenges that await us from the application of the Green Deal at EU level are great and unless we grasp this in time, we won't be able to compete in the future," he stated. Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) pointed out that Slovakia lags behind in terms of the food sector. "For 30 years the food sector has always been on the tail end. We produce raw materials from milk to cereals, but we lack a processing industry. We don't have it in sufficient scale to ensure and gradually increase food self-sufficiency. And this is also the task of the Agriculture Ministry," he said. am/mcs