'Invest in research in agriculture to tackle food insecurity'

"Since it is one of the key sufferers of climate change, agriculture can become an important part of the Copenhagen process and the clean development mechanisms".

By PTI | May 10, 2010, 10.52 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Warning that the impending process of climate change could lead to food insecurity in less developed and vulnerable countries, an official of the UN food and agriculture wing today asked countries to invest well in research to stave off a possible disaster.

Alexander Sarris, Director, Trade and Markets Division of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said "uncertainty" among sceptics about the magnitude and timing of the phenomenon of climate change should not become an excuse for not investing enough in research and clean technologies.

"Since it is one of the key sufferers of climate change, agriculture can become an important part of the Copenhagen process and the clean development mechanisms".

He said climate change affects food growing practices and would imply greater food insecurities, "largely in vulnerable countries", resulting in large-scale population movement.

"Already in Europe we are facing immigration pressures and climate change will increase those pressures," he warned.

"Unless considerable research is dedicated to increasing the resilience of agriculture and growing practices, food insecurity is likely to have a major impact," he added.

Referring to climate sceptics, who have labelled the threat of climate change as exaggerated, Sarris said: "uncertainty is not an excuse for not investing in research for obtaining greater resilience".

"If a big disaster looms in the future, then action should be taken in the present, notwithstanding the fact that the time or magnitude of the disaster is uncertain," he said.

"We should be much more eager to prevent, rather than wait for the calamity to come, because if get too late, the disaster will be upon us," he said.

He was speaking at an international conference on "Tea and its future" as part of the centenary celebrations of Tocklai Experimental Station, where research on all aspects of tea cultivation and processing is carried out.

The conference discussed tea plantations and the potential impact of climate change on them in India and other parts of the world.

He said in the long run, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and some of the non-BRIC developing countries were very likely to become growing net importers of food.

"The potential impact of climate change is expected most in South Asian and Sub Sahara nations, though there would be large regional variations in the impact," he said.

Vibha Dhawan, executive Director of TERI said the research community need to focus on developing safe pesticides, insecticides and even genetically engineered varieties of tea to enable them resist the impact of climate change in the long run.

Dhawan said it has been observed that rainfall has declined in most regions of north-east India and there has been an increase in temperatures.

"Therefore, for sustainable tea production in the future, adaptation is the viable option," she said.

"Attempts should be made to create more humid conditions in the region by measures like creating more water bodies, and research needs to be focussed on helping tea plants resist the conditions arising from climate change," she added.

Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.