Response to Section A* and B

This comment addresses two issues: the eco-regional approaches for food production and the estimation of resource availabilities for meeting global food needs in the coming decades. Papers have been presented on both these topics and I have been requested to take those as my starting point. With the exception of the paper by Pinstrup-Andersen and Pandya-Lorch, these are agro-technical and discuss mainly approaches and options regarding the use of physical resources to make food available to future populations. Future demand for food is dealt with rather cursorily, which pains the economist. Even more regrettable is the absence of prices in the analytic approaches and in the options presented for the future. As economists are convinced that prices play a central role in determining future paths of development, you will understand that my comments will elaborate on issues of demand and prices.