The technological change (The role of information technology and biotechnology in agri-food production)

• Published in: Ecodecision (Montreal. English ed.) no. 18; p. 23
• Main Author: Sasson, Albert
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ecodecision 01.10.1995
• Edition: English ed.
• Subjects: Agricultural policy; Biotechnology; Genetic engineering; Sustainable development
• ISSN: 1208-6606

According to FAO, the global grain output in 1994 was 528 million tonnes of wheat (as against 564 million tonnes in 1993), 535 million tonnes of rice (527 million in 1993), 570 million tonnes of maize (470 million in 1993) and 888 million tonnes of other grains (800 million in 1993). These figures show an overall improvement despite the drop in the wheat harvest from 1993 to 1994. Regionally, production increased in Latin America; in Europe, the harvest was practically the same in 1993 and 1994; in North and Central America, the wheat harvest fell from 96 million tonnes to 90.1 million; in Asia, the wheat harvest also dropped, going from 224.5 million tonnes to 217.2 million, while significant rises occurred in the production of rice, maize and other grains; in Africa, output increased, and in the former Soviet Union, harvests fell steeply, going from 83.5 to 60.8 million tonnes of wheat, from nearly 9 to 4 million tonnes of maize, and from 97 to 83.5 million tonnes of other grains. In China, for example, according to statements from the Ministry of Agriculture, all varieties of rice, wheat, maize and cotton with declining yields in recent years should be replaced by improved varieties between 1995 and 2000. To this end, with the co - operation of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the ministry has selected a hundred varieties that offer high yields, better quality and greater resistance to pathogens. The upgrading of cultivated varieties seems all the more essential because the population of China should reach 1.6 billion by the middle of the next century. Declines in yield may be attributed to insufficient investment in the farming sector, natural disasters and urbanization, all of which would considerably reduce arable land area. Agricultural development was declared a high priority in 1995. Between 1995 and 2000, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to sow 18.7 million hectares of land with high - yield hybrid maize varieties, and to sow another 3.3 million hectares with 50 new wheat varieties. If the experiment succeeds, China will increase its grain output by 50 million tonnes toward the end of the century. From 1950 to the late 1980s, the emphasis in species selection was on obtaining high yields rather than yield stability, and no consideration was given to the impact on societies and the environment. It was therefore necessary to take a new technological direction: instead of the Green Revolution's reliance on chemicals, the focus shifted to genetic and biological techniques of improving cultivated plants, as well as to the social and environmental consequences of the techniques utilized. Many factors converged -- such as the use of molecular markers, making it possible to identify genes or groups of genes likely to confer disease tolerance; yield stability; and better adaptation to stress -- all leading to greater reliance on molecular biology, genetic selection and crop improvement. Now resistance to pests and disease, along with tolerance of weather extremes and yield stability (all controlled by groups of genes), should be transferred to cultivated varieties by conventional methods and/or by means of biotechnology. Doing so will allow farmers to use less uniform varieties, and will make yields more sustainable and stable, resistant to the major diseases and to pests and weather extremes.