ENVIRONMENT CHALLENGES

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By Victor Karega The Citizen Correspondent Arusha. The world is facing unprecedented challenges of feeding its population – which is predicted to clock 9 billion by 2050 – whereas, conservation of the environment and therefore biodiversity becomes a crucial matter, Prof Christopher Leaver told The Citizen on Monday. The expert -- a researcher and professor of Plant Science from the University of Oxford -- stated that 80 per cent of the predicted population would live in developing countries,  the majority in urban environment. “If we’re to conserve biodiversity and ecological resources and minimise the effects of biotic stress, higher yields can only be realised by doubling agricultural production on the same area of land with less available water,” he said on the sidelines of the training workshop on plant breeding, genetics and bioscience for farming in Africa (B4FA) here. According to him, global warming is broadly neutral on yields, but will have significant negative impact on those countries with the greatest need, leading to changes in the distribution and severity of plant pests and disease, rising sea levels, flooding, severe drought and decline in soil quality. Other effects will include increase in yields of major staple crops and diversion of resources into growing energy crops for biofuels rather than food crops. Using bioinformatics and modelling coupled with the appropriate use of agrochemicals is the only way in which the global challenges outlined above can be addressed and sustainable crop production achieved, he explained. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites