Feeding 9 billion by 2050?: A critical review of international policy proposals

Food security was thrust back onto the international agenda in 2008 when the FAO declared that for the first time, more than 1 billion people were going hungry. At this moment of enhanced crisis, others looked ahead and asked if we have trouble feeding the world’s 7 billion people now how will we feed the estimated 9 billion in 2050? This focus on feeding 9 billion by 2050 resonated with international policy actors who responded with multiple strategies to potentially address this problem.

This BSc thesis will undertake a systematic literature review of the problem framings and policy proposals that have been advanced to address this challenge.

The thesis student is expected to:

• Develop a related research question
• Undertake a systematic literature review
• Map the framings of the policy problem
• Map the proposed solutions
• Select key policy documents for deeper analysis
• Undertake a critical analysis of these documents to arrive at a conclusion about the policy implications related to the discourse of “feeding 9 billion by 2050”
• Write up process as a BSc thesis in Rural Sociology

Interested?
Contact Jessica Duncan jessica.duncan@wur.nl