Farm land fades 1.6% a year, finds UN food body
UN food body says Globally cultivable land would shrink to 0.2 hectare per person in 2025
By ET Bureau |
KOLKATA : Arable land in the world is shrinking by 1.6% a year under the impact of rapid urbanisation and degradation. The UN body Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has made a forecast that agricultural land at the global level is slated to shrink to 0.20 hectare per person in 2025 and 0.15 hectare per person in 2050 from 0.33 hectare per person in 1991.
If FAO forecasts come true, this would inevitably put pressure on land availability for agricultural purpose, which consequently multiplies food shortage. This was observed by executive associate director of Biotechnology Centre at University of Illinois in the US, Bruce M Chassy.
Mr Chassy said the growing shrinkage of land, as per FAO projections, can be countered by providing more attention to increasing crop productivity in order to avoid food crisis on a major scale in the next 25 years.
He was speaking at a seminar on ���The future of food and agriculture���, organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Monday.
The problem of food shortage can be tackled through several ways. One of them is adoption of biotechnology in cultivation to raise crop productivity. He stressed upon greater application of genetic engineering in traditional low yielding crops.
According to him, charges levelled against genetically modified crops are misplaced. Instead of affecting
pesticides and herbicides, which, in turn, allows lowering of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, application of biotechnology is not the only answer to raise productivity. Efforts are simultaneously underway to devise improved farm management strategies and tools to enhance crop productivity from conventional agricultural species or breeds of grains.
At the same time, research activities are taking place to evolve cost-effective technology for irradiation of agricultural products so as to scale up their shelf lives to meet shortage.
But, when it comes to human factor, attention should be given in educating farmers about state-of-the-art farming technology through training and awareness programme, said Mr Chassy.
If FAO forecasts come true, this would inevitably put pressure on land availability for agricultural purpose, which consequently multiplies food shortage. This was observed by executive associate director of Biotechnology Centre at University of Illinois in the US, Bruce M Chassy.
Mr Chassy said the growing shrinkage of land, as per FAO projections, can be countered by providing more attention to increasing crop productivity in order to avoid food crisis on a major scale in the next 25 years.
He was speaking at a seminar on ���The future of food and agriculture���, organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Monday.
The problem of food shortage can be tackled through several ways. One of them is adoption of biotechnology in cultivation to raise crop productivity. He stressed upon greater application of genetic engineering in traditional low yielding crops.
According to him, charges levelled against genetically modified crops are misplaced. Instead of affecting
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the production cycle of crops and environment, genetically modified crops help reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides, which, in turn, allows lowering of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, application of biotechnology is not the only answer to raise productivity. Efforts are simultaneously underway to devise improved farm management strategies and tools to enhance crop productivity from conventional agricultural species or breeds of grains.
At the same time, research activities are taking place to evolve cost-effective technology for irradiation of agricultural products so as to scale up their shelf lives to meet shortage.
But, when it comes to human factor, attention should be given in educating farmers about state-of-the-art farming technology through training and awareness programme, said Mr Chassy.
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