Marshaling Technology for Development Proceedings of a Symposium (1995) / Chapter Skim
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Broadened Agricultural Development: Pathways toward the Greening of Revolution
Broadened Agricultural Development: Pathways toward the Greening of Revolution
Pages 145-160
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From page 145... ...
Also over the next 25 years, global trade patterns, together with ongoing development, will open markets for industries located wherever production resources are available. For agriculture, the emergence of biological technologies for the transfer of the ability to produce new industrial precursors, essential oils, and flavor compounds into agricultural crops will open many new markets and create new agricultural industries.
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From page 146... ...
The most productive agricultural areas, on a global basis, are only a small portion of the total land base, accounting for 447 million hectares out of a total 13,900 million hectares, or 3.2 percent (Figure 14. The "slightly" and "somewhat" productive lands add another 1,087 million hectares.)
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From page 147... ...
This decrease is caused by many factors, including lower world prices for grains, the conversion of land to nonagricultural uses, and the transfer of the less productive lands from cereals to more suitable crops. Irrigated land in developing countries increased at a rate of 2.17 percent a year from 1961 to 1971, 2.09 percent a year from 1971 to 1981, and 1.24 percent a year from 1981 to 1990.2 The most optimistic outlook for an eventual increase in irrigated area in developing countries is 59 percent above present acreage,3 but also noteworthy is the fact that the per hectare costs of such irrigation development increase as the quality of land and the availability of water decrease.
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From page 148... ...
THE BROADENING (AND GREENING) OF THE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM Against this rapidly changing global development picture the public demands on agriculture (the development paradigm)
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From page 149... ...
As a result, an environmental or social ethic may be forced on a developing nation well ahead of its evolution at the public level. Finally, in an increasingly populous and interdependent world, the agricultural agenda will inevitably broaden to include ever greater levels of: human utility measured in terms of production, employment, safe food, dependability, recreation, green space, and a host of other factors; efficient use of resources measured as land use, return on investment, and use of inputs; preservation of nonrenewable resources, including soil, water, and genetic diversity; environmental impacts favorable to humans and most other species; and macro structure in harmony with local and national economic, social, and political goals.
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From page 150... ...
Researchers' abilities to manage soil microbial populations to better synchronize seasonal nutrient flux with crop demand, to manage genetic shifts in pest resistance to control measures, and to genetically engineer new characteristics into key crop-influencing organisms are but a few examples. The genetic transfer of a plant's capacity to produce essential oils, industrial products, medicines, or other useful products represents a new wave of scientific breakthrough.
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From page 151... ...
RAPIDLY EVOLVING AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES Several industries such as fisheries, farm forestry, and selected animal enterprises are evolving rapidly on a global scale to meet changing market demands. In Indonesia, because the harvest of virgin forest has passed its peak, the price of logs of certain timber species has risen by 20 percent a year.9 This is prompting a significant shift in Indonesia's timber industry toward land management and timely production rather than continued reliance on native stands of trees.
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From page 152... ...
In short, few developing country animal confinement facilities are now sustainable. Moreover, it is highly probable that regulatory control will be essential for long-term public acceptance.
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From page 153... ...
M M L(M) M L L L M L L L basketry and handicrafts, medicinal herbs, wood for charcoal, fodder trees for animal feed, landscape nursery plants, and even fresh market cut flowers are derived from farming systems that have intricate combinations of annual and perennial crops and a variety of animals.
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From page 154... ...
resource I / W.~ -- 1 N | and // \ |second-// \ I fir\, // Modified \ for, Agroforestry / High population pressure FIGURE 3 Area balance of agricultural and forestry land-use types that have evolved over past decades from native forest in a typical developing country. Land clearing is usually by slash and burn, and moves toward alternatives uses are based on soil type, land tenure, fang size, market availability, and other factors such as domestic security and availability of capital.
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From page 155... ...
Industrial enterprises, operated under appropriate social and environmental controls, will play an important role, as will the limited-diversity, mostly small farms in the high soil and water resource areas, which will continue to serve as their countries' breadbaskets. Appropriate systems for the increasingly populous, environmentally sensitive areas that are now under great stress will have high biological diversity and a high proportion of perennial plant species and animals, and will be highly integrated both biologically and socially.
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From page 156... ...
Unfortunately, the measures needed to correct these problems after the damage occurs are extremely expensive and may take years. Mixed systems for lower soil and water resource environments suffer from lack of land tenure permitting long-term investment, soil erosion and lack of nutrients, as well as lack of infrastructure, social stability, and security in the community.
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From page 157... ...
Ecological methods thus hold great promise for increasing production efficiency and reducing the environmental damage caused by high-productivity agriculture, but the development of the scientific basis for production systems ecology will require a major input from the public sector. PATHWAYS OF CHANCRE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRY SYSTEMS Three basic, often overlapping pathways for the generation and movement of capital, technology, knowledge, and production resources are commonly found throughout agriculture.
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From page 158... ...
The high soil and water resource areas will continue to depend heavily on public sector international and national research programs for their genetic resources and nutrient and integrated pest management technologies. Recently, however, this international research sector has been under enormous financial constraints, brought about in part by the global recession, by alternative demands for resources, and by a global complacency about food sufficiency for the next decade or more.
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From page 159... ...
The ICRAF Southeast Asia approach, based on hypotheses of systems structure, is exemplary in its innovation. {5 Any effective strategy for the agricultural development of the low soil and water resource areas must seek the participation of the public sector in (1)
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From page 160... ...
O Blake et al., "Feeding 10 Billion People in 2050: The Key Role of the CGIAR's International Agricultural Research Centers," Action Group on Food Security, Washington, D.C., 1994; Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, A CGIAR Response; M
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