Outlook on Agriculture

The outbreak of a highly infectious animal disease in a disease-free area is an ever-present risk. Recent epidemics in European livestock populations illustrate that the cost in terms of eradication, lost production and trade disruption may be high. In this paper, the implications for the meat and livestock industry, government policy and international trade rules are considered. The need for strict biosecurity and effective contingency plans is stressed. Options such as private insurance, animal tracing systems and emergency vaccination are discussed. Current measures for controlling animal disease epidemics raise various social and ethical issues that complicate the policy makers' task.

Poverty is a rural dilemma and continues to be a persistent multidimensional problem. It is associated with poor farmers, small farm systems, the landless, resource endowments, the socioeconomic environment and externalities. Over 75% of the poor live and work in rural areas, trapped in a poverty–adaptation–fragile lives–little hope–low life expectancy complex, with an enduring hope for self-reliance and a more comfortable life tomorrow. Since agricultural growth is central to improved livelihoods, strategies that focus on promoting such growth are critical: improved efficiency in natural resource management (NRM), of which animals are a part, can directly contribute to productivity enhancement and reduced poverty. It is estimated that approximately 678 million of the rural poor keep animals, within which the largest ownership of animals is seen in mixed crop–animal systems. The role and contribution of animals is discussed with reference to household benefits — current, medium-term and long-term savings, increased productivity of mixed farm systems, sustainability of agricultural systems and the environment, and enhancement of social stability. While large ruminants (buffalo and cattle) are very valuable for agriculture and farm security, milk and beef, ploughing and dung production, small animals (goats, sheep, chickens, pigs and ducks) are particularly important for nutritional and household security. The link between gender and animals is emphasized, especially the implications of the very strong relationship between women and children and small animals. This paper describes in detail characteristics of poor farmers and small farm systems. It discusses opportunities for NRM, and presents examples of data from different categories of animals and the extent of their contribution to total farm income, which in Asia ranges from 7–69%. It is concluded that improved animal production systems can increasingly make a significant contribution to improved human welfare, rural growth and reduced poverty. To achieve this, however, much more investment in agricultural research and development is necessary that can target less-favoured rainfed areas, coupled with participatory and interdisciplinary approaches, effective public–private sector partnerships, and commitment to purpose.

Falling world grain stocks, rising grain prices and the poor economic situation of Africa have, since 1995, made food security a major issue. Structural adjustment programmes, the crushing burden of debt, the collapse of commodity prices and mismanagement of national economies have rendered African people even poorer in terms of per capita income and quality of life than they were in the first decade after the attainment of independence. Yet Africa is rich in many ways — for example, in virgin land for agriculture and in mineral resources, including energy. It is rich above all in its people and their determined spirit to face all disasters, natural and man-made. In line with this spirit, Africa is moving ahead on a new consensus that food security through enhanced agricultural production is the continent's most fundamental development issue. Although the economic plans of successive African governments have stressed the goal of food self-sufficiency, the food sector has received little investment or political priority. Africa continues to rely on food aid and food imports, which consume a large part of its meagre export earnings. The increasingly limited capacity to purchase food abroad and the bitter experience of depending on emergency aid are honing a clear determination that Africa must marshal the resources to grow its own food and so release the creative energies of its people to contribute fully to their own development and well-being. Top priority should be given to food security during this process, as no country can consider itself free until it has the wherewithal to provide for the basic needs of its people.

This paper delineates changes in the organization of the production of horticultural plants as a result of the introduction of plant tissue culture techniques in India. Conventionally, horticultural plantlets have been produced in farmer-managed nurseries by using traditional plant breeding techniques such as grafting, budding, layering, seed propagation, etc. Over several centuries, the production process was organized as a craft, based on empirical experience. During the last decade, many multinational corporations and large Indian industrial companies have made substantial investments in horticulture by deploying tissue culture. In a comparative study of nurseries using conventional plant breeding techniques and plant tissue culture, it was observed that production processes had undergone several changes as a result of the introduction of tissue culture. In traditional nurseries the production process was organized according to the simple division of labour. In contrast, plant tissue culture technology was introduced within a complex organizational structure with a formal hierarchy similar to that of the manufacturing industry. Plant tissue culture has ushered in the industrialization of horticulture.

Long-term and large-scale field tests with different weed control methods and agricultural vegetation surveys provide an appropriate tool for an evaluation of the effects on biodiversity of different weed control strategies. In this paper, the toxicological effects, amounts and frequencies of applications, and changes in farming practice are described and compared. The test results are discussed in relation to the question of whether environmental benefits can be achieved by the herbicide-resistance technique. Cropping history and the absence of beneficial plant species invading from the vicinity often override the effects of actual farming practice. Thus long-term strategies are necessary in order to increase biodiversity.

Trends of declining rice yields observed in Asia and increasing pesticide pollution from rice cultivation are matters of concern. The application of plant-available silicon may alleviate some of these problems, but has not yet become commonplace due to the lack of cheap and soluble silicon compounds. Innovative work suggests that fused calcium silicate ground to a fine powder may provide a soil treatment that will correct the problem of depleted silicon in rice paddies. Fused calcium silicate also shows promising results in sugar cane, barley, wheat and other Gramineae crops. However, there is still a need to determine how fused calcium silicate can be incorporated into the economy and operations of rice cultivation.