The chief executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has called for better co-ordination and increased funding to ensure food security.

Professor Douglas Kell demanded monetary support for well-organised agri-food research in order to avoid a possible food security crisis, in an interview with the BBC.

Kell said that without an increase in funding for agriculture and food research, the world would not be able to achieve the 50 per cent increase in food production required to feed the growing global population by 2030.

"The growing global population and changing diets in the developing world is putting huge pressure on food production. The price spikes we saw last summer are just the first indications of what will come if we do not find a way to increase food production,” said Kell.

"Only science can bring the levels of increased production we need to ensure safe, nutritious and affordable food for everyone. We need to increase the levels of food production, increase the nutrition of the food we produce and reduce waste in the food chain. This is a wide-ranging issue. We need research to understand and protect farmed animals from exotic, emerging diseases.

"We cannot rely on past productivity increases for food security as these have reached a plateau. We need increased funding from all sources across the agri-food sector and better co-ordination of research effort. As it takes 10-15 years to progress plant science from the research bench to a harvestable crop in the field, we need this action now."

BBSRC is the biggest public funder of agri-food research in the UK, investing around £185 million in relevant basic and applied research, almost half of the UK total. It is expected to report findings on the issue of food security as a result of a recent meeting of researchers, funders, policy-makers, industry and retailers on the subject.