US Biotech Advisor Warns of Global Famine

The specter of famine is haunting the planet.

March 12, 2010
By Marvyn Benaning
Manila Bulletin

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) senior advisor for biotechnology Jack A. Bobo has told officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) that a 27% decline in agricultural output by 2050 has been projected by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) due to aberrant weather.

Bobo said this means that this early, agriculture officials worldwide must think of ways to overcome the impact of climate change and double of even triple productivity since a ballooning global population would increase the demand for food.

The projection has been considered accurate by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which oversees efforts to boost the campaign to adapt to changing weather conditions.

Children will be most vulnerable to famine and this calls for agricultural productivity investments ranging from $7.1 billion to $7.3 billion to raise calorie consumption and offset the negative impacts of climate change on the health and well-being of children.

However, climate change-sensitive agriculture is the call of the day since agriculture and land-change are responsible for 31% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.

"Tree burning and decomposition contribute to GHG emissions. Deforestation contributes to soil erosion, which reduces agricultural productivity," he said.

Deforestation experts say more than 80% of the world's forests, where 80% of life on earth can be found, has been destroyed.

"Soil degradation has reduced agricultural productivity by 13% in the past 50 years especially in Central America and Africa. Each year, 12 million hectares - enough land to grow 20 million tons of grain and an area the size of Greece - are lost to desertification which leads to accelerated soil erosion," Bobo stressed.

The impending water crisis is also a big concern since agriculture accounts for 70% of freshwater use worldwide. "Competition with cities and other sectors such as mining for water will grow over time. In 20 years, about two-thirds of global population will live in cities," he revealed.

Bobo advocated an appropriate climate policy, investment in research and development (R&D) and technology from both the private and public sectors.

"Issues such as food safety, food security, and drought surround every major policy issue when tackling climate change but, if we will notice, 90% of policy on climate change is about energy. Climate policy should take into account the need to support global food security by promoting synergy between food security research and climate mitigation and adaptation research," he said.

"Recent trends in both public and private energy funding indicate that the role of 'technology push' in reducing GHG emissions is often overvalued and may not be fully understood. Ultimately, it is only by creating a demand-pull market rather than supply-push that technological development, learning from experience, can develop advantageous economies of scale in production and related cost reductions can result," Bobo noted.

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