Food security is a key component in our path to a sustainable future. There are currently over 600 million people in the world who are suffering from extreme poverty and food for them is not affordable.

This is a major challenge that needs attention, said Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Head of the Smart and Sustainable Cities Research Cluster, University of Wollongong.

In an exclusive interview to Sustainability Middle East (SME), Dr Wilkinson expressed concern about the cost of fertilisers and the manufacturing process which involves fossil fuels.

"Sulphuric Acid, Ammonia and Nitric Acid form the basis of our major global fertilisers and also of our food system. All three of these are generated from fossil fuels," he said.

"So, in order to move towards a more sustainable future, we need to find the ways to generate these, through green technologies. These technologies exist, but the problem is they are expensive, than the current conventional fossil fuel technology," Dr Wilkinson added.

There is an urgent need to fund research in this sector and make the technologies cheaper so that the fertiliser cost are low and so are the food prices.

"We need to ensure that the food cost is low enough to maintain the sustainable development goals - zero hunger, and no poverty into the future."

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