Boosting agricultural research in the developing world is the key to ensuring food security for the world's poorest, says Adel el-Beltagy, Chair of the Global Form on Agricultural Research (GFAR), writing in the latest issue of the TWAS Newsletter, published last week.
With nearly a billion people suffering from chronic hunger, global food security remains a major concern, despite being a key goal of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Extreme weather events due to climate change and the recent trend to convert croplands to biofuels both threaten to put even more people at risk.
Most Of The World's Hunger Happens Due To Seasonal Cycle
According to a new research, most of the world's hunger doesn't occur in conflicts or natural disasters but is actually driven by seasonal cycle.
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The solution, says el-Beltagy - a member of TWAS, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World - must involve a renewed concentration on agricultural research in the South.
Writing in the spring issue of the TWAS Newsletter, el-Beltagy outlines the steps that will be needed to ensure that developing countries can take advantage of cutting-edge agricultural technologies, such as genomics and nanotechnology, that have the potential to increase crop yields without unduly stressing the environment.
![UN Warns of Impending Hunger Crisis]( "UN Warns of Impending Hunger Crisis")
The United Nations warned Thursday that the global economic crisis could create up to 100 million new hungry as it wipes out jobs in poorer countries.
Building such capacity will depend upon overcoming two obstacles: The North-South gap, which delays the transfer of technologies to the developing world, and the gap between developing world research communities and farmers working in the field.
Agricultural research institutions in the South, el-Beltagy says, must work more closely with their counterparts in the North, to develop technology transfer initiatives, and with policy-makers in their own countries, to convince them of the value of what they do and to advocate for policies that help farmers make use of the best available technologies and management strategies to increase crop yields.
Source: Eurekalert
THK
UN Warns of Impending Hunger Crisis
The United Nations warned Thursday that the global economic crisis could create up to 100 million new hungry as it wipes out jobs in poorer countries.
Advertisement
Building such capacity will depend upon overcoming two obstacles: The North-South gap, which delays the transfer of technologies to the developing world, and the gap between developing world research communities and farmers working in the field.
Agricultural research institutions in the South, el-Beltagy says, must work more closely with their counterparts in the North, to develop technology transfer initiatives, and with policy-makers in their own countries, to convince them of the value of what they do and to advocate for policies that help farmers make use of the best available technologies and management strategies to increase crop yields.
Source: Eurekalert
THK
Where They Eat Cookies Made of Mud to Quench Hunger
The poor in Haiti have taken to eating cookies made of mud. It is also seen as an antacid and source of calcium.
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