AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT - Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-income Countries - page 72

Table 2. Research questions related to achievement of the MDGs

Millennium
Development Goal

Agriculture and environment

Is labour productivity low because of adverse natural or
physical circumstances?
How can we increase land productivity?
How can we utilize (agro) biodiversity to increase productivity?
How can we increase resource use efficiencies?
How to adapt agricultural systems to climate change?

Eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger

Are degrading environmental impacts intrinsically linked to
agricultural production?
How to analyse vulnerability and resilience in agricultural
landscapes?
How to analyse agricultural landscape mosaics?

Ensure environmental
sustainability

Develop a Global Partnership
for Development

How can we link global issues and local action?
What are the roles of policy, science and the private sector?

more sustainable production systems. However, with retreating government influence
and increasing influence of producers, consumers and markets, this task is becoming
increasingly difficult. The concept of sustainability needs to be incorporated into
these markets. In Western markets producer and consumer groups can make a
difference, but in emerging markets, such as China and India this still seems far
away. Combining forces of the public and private sectors, to get the best of both
worlds, is a promising direction.
The role of science in shaping sustainability lies in developing and making
effective use of technologies and methods that will allow for integrated quantitative
spatial assessments. In this context, increased production and improved resource use
efficiency will play important roles in the operationalization of sustainable agriculture
and conservation of the natural resource base. Integration of landscape and farm
household processes is essential in identifying feasible development pathways for
land use systems, i.e., linking scales is a daunting scientific challenge. Farming systems
and farm household systems comprise different spatial scales than ecosystems or water-
sheds. Conceptual approaches in agricultural sciences and ecological sciences do not
always match. Biophysical analysis of land mosaics comprising farm fields, forests
and nature areas and their competing claims on natural resources is a challenging
scientific task. Several concrete research questions linked to realization of the
MDGs are listed in Table 2 (based on Dietz 2003; Thritle et al. 2003; Dorward et al.
2004).
Conflicts arise from the tensions between what is feasible, affordable, acceptable
and effective in a given situation. Science can assist in shaping sustainable