Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
June 2003
Preface rops that are resistant to extreme weather or plant diseases, or that can produce
Ann M. Veneman
Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture
June 2003
Executive Summary 2
Agriculture: Introduction 4
Summary
the 20th century. Not all regions bene
fited equally, however, and it remains a
challenge in the 21st century to ensure
and information sciences have resulted in
several emerging fields that hold promise
for the development of future agricultural
that all countries have access to innova technologies. The new fields of bioreme
tions and discoveries that could raise diation, nanotechnology, genomics, and
incomes, reduce hunger, and improve bioinformatics will increase knowledge
nutrition. If countries have policy, regula that can be shared and used to improve
tory, and institutional frameworks in sustainable agricultural production and
place to support science and technology, protect ecosystem functions in developed
they can increase agricultural productivity and developing countries alike.
and stimulate economic growth. Thus, These advances hold great promise,
chronic hunger would be reduced, and but the full benefits of scientific break
opportunities to participate in global mar throughs will not be realized without the
kets would increase. dissemination and adoption of new tech
Agricultural production technologies nologies. In each country, the successful
If countries have and practices have been developed to local development of technologies or the
improve soil, water, nutrient, and pest transfer and adaptation of innovations
policy, regulatory, management. Crop improvements con from others will depend on incentives and
and institutional tributed to the successes of the Green barriers faced by investors and producers.
Revolution. Modern biotechnology tools Countries with strong research, health,
frameworks in have been used to achieve higher levels of and education capacity will offer a sup
stability and sustainability in crop produc portive environment for technology devel
place to support tion. These innovations have increased opment and investment.
yields and reduced environmental Countries have many crucial decisions
science and impacts. Advances in animal breeding and to make in meeting their sustainable agri
technology, they health have increased both the quantity cultural goals. These decisions need to be
and quality of animal protein available to made and implemented based on deci
can increase consumers. sionmakers’ knowledge of their countries’
Improvements in marketing, processing, unique environmental, social, and eco
agricultural and transportation technologies have nomic characteristics. There are many
expanded the choices of food that are read ways that developed countries, interna
productivity and ily available to consumers. These innova tional institutions, and businesses can
stimulate tions can be adapted to preserve and deliver increase the possibilities for all countries
vitamin-rich foods to help combat nutrient to benefit from scientific and technologi
economic growth. deficiencies in all countries. In addition, cal advances.
technologies to reduce food safety hazards
can be used to increase the health of both
rural and urban populations.
Scientific and technological advances
in the 21st century will result from
research investments in both traditional
agricultural fields and other emerging dis
ciplines. Agricultural production research
will be targeted to develop crops and ani
mals that can tolerate a wider range of
environmental conditions and offer con
sumers desired characteristics. Molecular
methods will be used to diagnose diseases,
locate pollutants in the environment, and
detect harmful micro-organisms in food.
Modern biotechnology holds promise for
Expanded global
trade, investment,
and economic
integration could
expand market
opportunities for
developing and
developed economies
alike. The potential
benefits of
international trade
and technological
progress are
enormous.
Productivity: T
echnological advancement, broadly
defined as any positive change in the
way goods and services are produced, has
nomic development of high-income
countries. Investments in agricultural
research and development (R&D) by
An Engine of been recognized by economists as a critical
contributor to economic growth. Research is
both the private and public sectors have
resulted in a high level of productivity.
All countries
100 Developing countries
50
0
61
66
71
76
81
86
91
96
00
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
Years
Labor Productivity
$ per worker
3,500
Not all countries
have benefited
Eastern Europe & Central Asia
from agricultural 3,000 Latin America & Caribbean
innovations. Middle East & North Africa
East Asia & Pacific
2,500 South Asia
Labor productivity
Sub-Saharan Africa
in developed coun
tries was $5,400 2,000
per worker in 1961
and $25,000 in 1,500
1997.
1,000
500
0
61
63
65
67
69
71
73
75
77
79
81
83
85
87
89
91
93
95
97
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
Years
Cereals Yield Indices for Developing Regions, 1951-2002 Food security is defined
Yield Index (1965 = 100)
300
as access by all people at
all times to sufficient food
for active, healthy lives. As
250 such, food security
depends not only on how
much food is available, but
200 also on the access that
people have to
food–whether by purchas-
150
ing it or by producing it
themselves. Access
100 depends in turn on eco
Asia nomic variables such as
All Regions food prices and household
Latin Americal/Caribbean
50 Middle East/North Africa incomes, as well as on
Sub-Saharan Africa agricultural technology
and the quantity and qual-
0
ity of natural resources.
61
66
71
76
81
86
91
96
02
51
56
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
19
19
Years
Undernourishment
% Chronically undernourished
50
40
30
20
10 Undernourishment
is a severe problem
0 in several regions.
East Asia Latin America Middle East & South Asia Sub-Saharan
& Pacific & Caribbean North Africa Africa
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Sub-Saharan Asia Latin America
Africa & Caribean
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
World East Asia Latin America Middle East & South Asia Sub-Saharan
average & Pacific & Caribbean North Africa Africa
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
North Asia South Asia Africa Latin America North & European Near East
South of & Caribbean Central Union (15)
Sahara America
Soil Management
Nutrient Management Nitrogen inhibitors can also be Root Zone Application– There are
used to release nitrates later in several fertilizer application methods
Several nutrient management prac the growing season to meet plant that ensure that the nutrients are
tices have been designed to help farm nutrient needs. readily accessible to the plant.
ers manage fertilizer use more
Micronutrients– Applied to the field Banded, side-dressed, and
efficiently while obtaining desired
either alone or mixed in bulk blended injected applications are used in con
crop yields:
fertilizer, micronutrients are essential trast to broadcast methods.
to plant nutrition but are needed in
N-Testing– Soil and plant tissue nitro Chemigation is used in conjunction
relatively small amounts.
gen tests used to estimate the residual with irrigation.
nitrogen available for plant use in Legumes in Rotation– Nitrogen-fix
determining fertilizer needs. ing crops (soybeans or alfalfa) are
grown in rotation with other crops to
Split Nitrogen Applications– The
improve soil fertility.
application of half or less of the
required amount of nitrogen for crop Manure– Animal wastes are applied
production at or before planting, with to the field as a source of nutrient
the remainder applied after emergence. replacement.
Aquaculture Provides a
Source of Protein
Research done by the World Fish
Center in Malaysia has produced an
improved strain of tilapia, a hardy
freshwater fish from Africa.
Compared with other farmed strains,
the resulting tilapia can grow 60 per-
cent faster with better survival rates,
and can yield three fish crops per
year, rather than two. The fish pro
vides a source of affordable protein in
areas with limited resources. Tilapia
farming in Asia has contributed to a
rise in overall fish production for the
first time in 5 years. The fish farmers
have received higher yields and prof-
its, with most overall benefits going
to relatively poor consumers.
Source: Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
0
China Other Asia Latin Sub-Saharan Middle
All Developed
America/ Africa East/
Developing
Caribbean North Africa
Intellectual property
rights (IPR)
This is one set of legal rights of particular
Plant Breeders’ Rights
importance to research and technology Plant Variety Protection
Outside the U.S.
transfer. As the United Kingdom’s Rules and regulations governing plant Most Western European countries
Commission on Intellectual Property variety protection, or plant breeders’ passed plant breeders’ rights legisla
Rights stated, “(t)he critical issue in rights, and patents for biological inno tion in the 1960s and 1970s. Australia
respect of IPR is perhaps not whether it vations differ widely among countries. and Canada adopted plant breeders’
promotes trade or foreign investment,
rights around 1990. Other industrial
but how it helps or hinders developing Plant Breeders’ Rights in the U.S. ized countries have been more reluc
countries to gain access to technologies In the U.S., the Plant Variety Protection tant than the U.S. to grant patent
that are required for their development.” Act (PVPA) was adopted in 1970. The protection to living organisms,
Currently, the lack of comprehensively main features of plant breeders’ rights although the European Patent Office in
specified and enforceable intellectual legislation are the: 1999 moved to grant patents on genet
property rights constitutes a major bar
• definition of a distinct variety (as ically engineered crops. Most key ele
rier to the sharing of knowledge and
opposed to an “essential derivative”) ments of intellectual property
technology among countries, and a disin
protection systems in Europe and Japan
centive to local and foreign research • rights of farmers to save seed for are similar to those in the U.S.,
investment in new technologies. In gen their own use (or to re-sell it) although important distinctions remain
eral, nations that generate technology
• research exemptions for use in other with respect to the treatment of plants
prefer strong intellectual property protec
breeding programs and animals and the scope of
tion, while those that depend on
patentable matter.
imported technologies prefer few restric • time period covered by the grant of a Some developing countries such as
tions on the use and imitation of that certificate. Argentina instituted plant breeders’
technology. These provisions are consistent with rights as early as the 1930s, but most
Over the past 20 to 30 years, intellec the International Union for the do not have intellectual property pro
tual property systems have become Protection of New Varieties of Plants tection systems that are comparable to
increasingly important factors affecting (UPOV), which took effect in 1968. In those in developed countries.
research in industrialized countries. 1985, utility patent protection in the
Intellectual property mechanisms, such as U.S. was extended to plants.
patenting, confer exclusive rights to
inventions for a limited time, to offer an
incentive for research and to protect pri
vate sector investment in new technolo
gies and products by restricting the use,
sale, and manufacture of these innova
tions. Research investment can be costly,
and the probability of success low. Many
firms would not risk funding research if
and legal
infrastructure to
obtain needed inputs
for scientific
developments.
Africa
Asia 13%
23%
Mexico
5%
Canada
Europe 10%
34%
Quality and
Land Quality Affects
Environmental Sensitivity
Agricultural Productivity
Increased resource use and improve a scale could reverse recent improve
A country’s natural resource base and ments in technology and efficiency ments in the number of people who
environment are crucial factors in deter- have raised global food production are food insecure. But actual yield
mining realistic sustainable agriculture more rapidly than population losses are likely to be lower to the
development goals. Although climate and increases in recent decades, but 800 extent that farmers have incentives to
natural disasters are not under a planner’s million people remain food insecure. adopt technologies and practices to
control, the vulnerability to these factors Meanwhile, growth in agricultural reduce soil erosion. Also, holding
can be mitigated. productivity appears to be slowing, other factors constant, this analysis
There are striking regional differences in and land degradation has been finds that the productivity of agricul
cropland quality. Among the countries of blamed as a contributing factor. tural labor is generally 20-30 percent
Sub-Saharan Africa, an average of 6 percent Estimates of land degradation’s higher in countries with good soils
of cropland has soils and climate that are of impact on productivity vary widely. and climate than it is in countries
high quality for agricultural production. Research indicates that land degra with poor soils and climate. The qual
The proportion of high-quality cropland is dation does not threaten productivity ity of labor (measured by literacy and
higher in other regions, ranging from an growth and food security at the life expectancy), institutions (meas
average of 20 percent among Asian coun global level. Nevertheless, problems ured by the absence of armed con
tries, to 28 percent among the countries of do exist in some areas, especially flict), and infrastructure (measured by
Latin America and the Caribbean, and 29 where fragile resources are found the extent of roads and agricultural
percent among high-income countries. In along with poverty and poorly func research expenditures) also affected
countries with poor soils and climate, basic tioning markets and institutions. agricultural productivity.
inputs such as fertilizer and water are more Recent analysis shows that potential
important than they are in countries that yield losses to soil erosion vary widely
are better endowed. by crop and region, but average 0.3
Given economic and environmental percent per year. Yield losses on such
constraints on cropland expansion, the
bulk of increased crop production in the
future must come from increased yields
on existing cropland. In some areas, yield
increases may be constrained by soil ero-
World Food Production and Population
Food production index Population (billion)
300 9
Land degradation refers to
changes in the quality of soil 8
250
and water that reduce the abil
7
ity of land to produce goods
and services that people value. 200 6
Some forms of land degrada
tion, such as nutrient depletion, 5
can be halted and even reversed 150
relatively easily, for example, by 4
appropriate application of fertil Food production
izers. Other forms of land 100 3
Total population
degradation, such as erosion or Food-insecure population
2
salinization, can be slowed or
50
halted through appropriate 1
management practices, but are Source:FAO
66
71
76
81
86
96
91
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
Census Years
Continuing S
cientific breakthroughs and techno-
logical innovations in the 20th cen
tury fueled substantial gains in
innovations have increased yields and
reduced environmental impacts. Advances
in animal breeding and health have
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