Wasteful and inefficient farming methods are threatening the natural
resources on which the world's food supply depends, requiring a dramatic
increase in agricultural production to close the shortfall, according to
a study released Wednesday.
The
study, paid for by the World Bank, cited the stripping of soil, water
pollution and the demise of plant and animal species as the biggest
threat to the food supply. Satellite-provided data and digital mapping
were used to scan Earth's "agro-ecosystems" in what researchers
said is the first comprehensive look at the planet's capacity to provide
food, goods and services.
A thread
runs through the inefficient practices still used by many farmers in
developing countries, to the cost of food, and to poverty, the heads of
the groups that sponsored the study told reporters. Because food is the
biggest slice of the budgets of many of the world's poor --70 percent of
whom still live in rural areas -- any step that makes cultivating a crop
more efficient will reduce its cost and chip away at poverty.
"If
we fail to control agricultural development, we will fail to reduce
poverty successfully in reaching the Copenhagen summit goal to halve
world poverty," said Robert Thompson, director of rural development
for the World Bank in Washington. He was referring to the United Nations
World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1995.
The
report turns the tables on agriculture, which is often viewed as falling
victim to environmental problems, by arguing that agriculture accounts
for 70 percent of all fresh water used by humans and that some farming
practices in both the developed and the developing worlds cause
pollution. The excessive use of fertilizer provides two simple but
significant examples: Its methane-rich fumes escape into the air and
linger as one of the main heat-trapping greenhouse gas believed
responsible for global warming, while runoff of nitrogen into rivers
and streams has left stagnant zones and harmed fish and plants.
The
participants also suggested remedies -- some surprising -- for the huge
spike in farming productivity that will be needed to feed a global
population estimated to rise from the current 6 billion to 7.5 billion
over the next two decades. More than 840 million people, nearly
one-seventh of the world's population, are chronically malnourished while
more than 1 billion do not have access to clean drinking water, according
to the U.N. Population Fund.
The use
of genetically modified seeds to produce higher yields of crops --
tweaked to resist otherwise harmful pests - should be encouraged, said
Per Pinstrup-Andersen, director general of the International Food Policy
Research Institute, one of the organizations that co-authored the study.
The agricultural economist made no mention of the controversy surrounding
"GM" foods and their potential impact on human health.
Organic
farming, a popular alternative to GM foods among the latter's opponents,
may indeed serve that purpose as a "small-scale,
niche-marketed" option in affluent societies, but experts said its
benefits would not extend to many parts of the developing world, where
the need for stepped-up farm productivity is pressing.
In
Africa, Thompson said, most soil lacks enough naturally occurring organic
material to make such an approach work. Noting his assessment that a
doubling of current agricultural output over the next 50 years will be
required to feed the developing world, the World Bank official said
African farms could never reach that goal without the aid of chemical
fertilizers and high-tech mechanization.
The
report's other authors were researchers from the World Resources
Institute, a Washington-based NGO that studies sustainable development
and natural-resource management. Its partner in the study, the
International Food Policy Research Institute, is part of the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research is a body that advises
governments on the impact of agricultural practices around the world; it
is funded by the World Bank and the United Nations.
--
Copyright 2001 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
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