INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND FOOD SECURITY

Crops and Food Security

Timothy G. Reeves FTSE

Professor Reeves is a former Director General of CIMMYT-the International Centre for the Improvement of Wheat and Maize

Global food needs are expected to double in the next 40 years. The question is: ‘Can crop production increase to meet these dramatically escalating demands? Many factors are involved in addressing this challenge, including issues of productivity, sustainability and access to water (and land), a range of policy matters relating to trade, international agreements, investment in research and development, together with political will. Cereals are globally the most important food security crops and, of these, maize, wheat and rice are the three that underpin global food security. Crop production increases of around 2 to 4 times will be needed in the next 25 or so years to meet demands from increasing population (150 people/minute are added to our global community)-in Asia particularly, due to income growth.

• As incomes increase, people demand more food and, in most cases, more meat and milk in their diet. In many countries livestock feeding is largely based on crop grains, resulting in major demand for those grains. \
• Prime agricultural land is lost daily due to urbanization, new highways, etc. and also to degradation from over-cultivation, erosion, salinisation and other factors affecting soil fertility. There are very few areas in the world where new agricultural land can or should be opened up. Water scarcity is perhaps the greatest concern in relation to increased crop production.
• For a number of reasons the rate of growth in food crop yields has slowed in the last decade, at a time when it urgently needs to be increasing, particularly in developing countries. If more crop production is to be obtained off less land and with less water, new technologies will be a major contributor to achieving this in sustainable systems.
• Biotechnology is mainly used in plant breeding to produce new crop varieties. Molecular biology (one facet of biotechnology) promises to help plant breeders make more rapid progress and to be more efficient and effective in their programs.
• Required increases in production will only be achieved if farmers can access and use new technologies, have ready access to essential inputs such as seed and fertilizer, have ready access to markets for their produce, and are supported by policy frameworks that encourage efficient agricultural production.
• An influx into a developing country17 July, 2006uly, 2006ces, reduces farmer incomes and exacerbates poverty and hunger in the longer term. Farmers need help to increase farm productivity for better food security at the household and country levels, as a means to lift them out of poverty.
• History shows that successful agriculture is almost always the ‘engine room’ of economic takeoff in a country. As farmers earn more income, they use it for better farming, for health and education, and for purchasing consumer goods. So there are very strong humanitarian reasons to support better food crop production in the short term, as well as potential benefits in the longer term.
  Unfortunately, most politicians think that food comes from supermarkets: it doesn’t, it comes from farms that constantly need new technologies and advice to help them overcome the ravages of drought, flood, heat, pests and diseases.

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