“Climate change will hit agro-ecosystems”

The Hindu , Sunday, February 10, 2008
Correspondent : Special Correspondent
Wise decisions needed :varsity chief

VELLORE: The president of Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany, Erich Barke has called for wise political and scientific decisions and a clear priority for sustainable increase in food and feed production in the light of the foreseeable population increase and the ongoing decrease in arable land and the consequent increasing demands for food and feed.

Delivering the valedictory address at the three-day International Conference on Biotechnology (INCOB)-2008 organised by the School of Biotechnology, Chemical and Bio-Engineering of the VIT University at the VIT campus here on Friday, Dr. Barke said that climatic change would change agro-ecosystems worldwide in a time where food and feed production were already under challenge.

“The foreseeable population increase, the ongoing decrease in arable land, increasing demands for feed owing to changed food habits and the world’s hunger for energy require wise political and scientific decisions and a clear priority setting towards sustainable increase in food/feed production.” The term, sustainability, however, needs a clear definition. While in developed countries, sustainability is mainly reduced to the parameter of ecology, in a global community the meaning is quite different. Sustainability in this context is the balance between ecology, economy and social acceptability, he said.

Dr. Barke said that plant biotechnology has to be used to find solutions to problems posed by climatic change, population growth, shrinking resources in arable land and the future energy shortage. “For the time being, we need to develop plant production systems where high and stable yields can be harvested with less input in land, fertilizer and agrochemicals”.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, data and models regarding the productivity of organic farming as opposed to conventional farming show that the potential of organic agriculture was far from being large enough to feed the world. “We therefore need to explore and develop all technologies in order to have the chance of solving the problems ahead, including genetic engineering of plants,” he said.

 
SOURCE : The Hindu, Sunday, 10 February 2008
 


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