Rome - With climate change affecting agricultural productivity and growing populations demanding more food, it will be crucial for countries to preserve and share
genetic resources to ensure food security, the United Nations agricultural
agency said today.
“Climate change impacts are expected to reduce agricultural productivity,
stability and incomes in many areas that already experience high levels of food
insecurity. Yet world agricultural production must increase 60 percent by the
middle of this century - less than 40 years from now - to keep pace with the
food requirements of the world’s growing population,” said the Deputy
Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dan Gustafson
at the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
“[Genetic resources] for food and agriculture play a crucial role in enabling
crops, livestock, aquatic organisms and forest trees to withstand climate
change-related conditions,” Mr. Gustafson added.
According to FAO, there
are as many as 30,000 edible terrestrial plant species in the world. However,
only 30 crops account for 95 per cent of human food energy needs, with rice,
wheat, maize, millet and sorghum amounting to 60 per cent of these.
About 75 per cent of crop genetic diversity was lost in the last century as
farmers worldwide switched to genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties and
abandoned multiple local varieties.
Genetic diversity is however essential to adapt and improve agriculture in the
face of threats, such as diseases or warming climate that can alter growing
conditions. For example, a variety of Turkish wheat, collected and stored in a
seed gene bank in 1948, was rediscovered in the 1980s, when it was found to
carry genes resistant to many types of disease-causing fungi. Plant breeders now
use those genes to develop wheat varieties that are resistant to a range of
diseases.
“Adaptation of the agriculture sector is not merely an option, but an imperative
for human survival, and genetic resources will form an essential part of any
adaptation strategy,” Mr. Gustafson said. “Ensuring food security in the face of
climate change is among the most daunting challenges facing humankind.”
Nations in the warmest parts of the planet will be hardest hit by climate
change. Arid and semi-arid zones are expected to become drier, while
precipitation in other areas will be more variable and much less predictable.
The Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture strives to ensure
world food security by promoting the conservation and sustainable use of genetic
resource, as well as fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from
their use.
The Commission is the only intergovernmental body to specifically address all
matters related to the world’s gene pool for food and agriculture, and is
marking its 30th anniversary as it meets in Rome this week.
