Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ability to communicate immediately with people who would have answers to their
major production problems.
conclusIons And study toPIcs
Increased crop production will continue to be needed well into the present century
to meet food security needs of a population that is still expanding. Added to this is
the need to produce more nutritious and better quality food demanded by a popula-
tion that is better educated and has better livelihoods and so can afford a greater
diversity of crop and animal products. This will be a challenge to all involved
in agriculture since many of the traditional ways of increasing crop production
are already being used. Agricultural land area is also decreasing along with water
and other natural resources as competition for land and resources for other human
activities grow. The question is how to grow more food with fewer resources and
still maintain low food costs for the growing urban population and provide a suit-
able livelihood for farmers.
Key topics needed to accomplish this task are as follows:
1. Optimal use of molecular tools by plant breeders to develop superior germ-
plasm with increased productivity, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and
quality.
2. Molecular tools include use of markers, genomics, bioinformatics, and
functional genomics and tissue culture in developing transgenic crops with
needed traits.
3. Improved crop management is needed that uses natural resources more effi-
ciently and minimizes negative environmental impacts.
4. CA, organic farming, and precision agriculture are management systems
that achieve these objectives better than existing agriculture. Equipment
will be a key component of these systems.
5. Dryland areas need concerted efforts to make them more productive since
they represent half the global farmland and are where many poor farmers
live. Water harvesting and more efficient use of rainwater will be key in these
areas.
6. Extending technology to farmers will be more complex in the future and
will require facilitation of learning selection, fostering the development of
suitable stakeholder networks, and anticipating impact pathways.
7. Modern communication tools such as the Internet and cell phones will become
increasingly valuable for informing farmers of needed information.
RefeRences
Ashby, J., T. Garcia, M. Guerrero, C.A. Quirós, J.I. Roa, and J.A. Beltrán. 1995.
Institutionalizing
Farmer Participation in Adaptive Technology Testing With the “CIAL.”
London: ODI.
ODI Agricultural Research and Extension Network Paper 57.
