FAO Calls for Sustainable Cereal-Based Farming Link: fao.org/news/story/en/item/273303/icode/ FAO estimates that over the next 35 years farmers will need to increase the annual production of maize, rice, and wheat to three billion tonnes. They will need to do that with less water, fossil fuel, and agrochemicals, on farmland that has been widely degraded by decades of intensive crop production, and in the face of droughts, new pest and disease threats, and extreme weather events provoked by climate change. Experts at a recent meeting convened by FAO said that that challenge could only be met with eco-friendly agriculture that achieves higher productivity while conserving natural resources, adapting to climate change, and delivering economic benefits to the worlds 500 million small-scale family farms. The FAO meeting agreed that agriculture can no longer rely on input-intensive agriculture to increase crop production. Improved varieties of maize, rice and wheat must go hand-in-hand with what FAO calls Save and Grow farming systems that keep soil healthy, integrate crop, tree, and animal production, use water far more efficiently, and protect crops with integrated pest management.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 22:54:26 +0000
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