Change in livestock food could feed a billion people: study

PARIS, Sept 19 (AFP): Diverting grain and other feed for livestock to human consumption could boost food supply sufficiently to feed an additional billion people, according to research released on Monday.
Many livestock animals and farmed fish are fed on foods such as cereals, fish and pulses that are edible for humans.
As the world struggles to feed hundreds of millions of people enough calories and nutrients to maintain their health, researchers in Finland examined what would happen if more food grown for animal consumption went to humans.
They analysed global food system data for crop, livestock and aquaculture production, focusing on feed use and the availability of other potential food sources for animals, such as by-products and residues of other farming processes that already exist.
Given the calorific needs of the world's animals and fish stocks, they calculated that switching out otherwise edible feed could increase global human food supply by 13 per cent in terms of calories and by 15 per cent in terms of protein.
"That's about one billion people," lead study author Vilma Sandstrom, from Finland's Aalto University, told AFP.