A new global challenge for agricultural researchers and individuals from all sectors is “A world free from hunger”. Drought-like situations in Tharparker affected 1.5 million people living over 22,000 square kilometers and collated death toll in 2014 is reported as 470. The deaths represent those areas where journalists are able to gain access but unfortunately, deaths of scores of infants who have died in villages and private clinics cannot be reported. As we see there is enough food in the world to feed our growing population, so the challenge comes from making sure that everyone has access to the food they need to live happy, healthy lives.
Research work has been done in western countries to enhance per acre yield of crops that ultimately focusing on quantity and now they are focusing on quality food. However, there is a challenge of food security in eastern countries like Pakistan and we must focus on quantity first and then move for the quality because crop yield per acre is less in developing countries. United Nations called this initiative the Zero Hunger Challenge. The Zero Hunger Challenge has five key objectives:
• 100 per cent access to food all year round
• Making all food systems more sustainable
• Reducing food waste and post-harvest losses
• Ending stunting among children under two years of age
• Doubling crop productivity and income for smallholder farmers
Recently, CIMMYT and APAARI hatve jointly organized the 12th Asian Maize Conference at Bangkok – a meeting of stakeholders from all over the world who came together to create new goals and targets for doubling crop productivity and improving nutrition. Additionally, B.M. Prasanna from CIMMYT contributed that this conference also supported the Zero Hunger Challenge by putting nutrition and sustainable food systems at the forefront of the international development agenda.
OUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE SOLUTION
Although much of the responsibility for the Zero Hunger Challenge lies with Pakistani government, however, individuals can support the cause too.
• Make an effort to reduce food waste by buying only the food you need.
• Support local economies and eco-friendly agriculture by buying food from local farmers.
• Make sure children and pregnant women in your household or community get the nutritious food they need.
• Advocate in your government for fair food policies that will support small farmers and sustainable agriculture.
“Less intensive farming in the developed and more intensive farming in the developing countries can solve the worlds food problem. That is, if the farming is done on an ecological basis. Specifically, farming methods in both developed and developing countries need to be updated,” says Dr. Ashfaq Ahmad Chattha, Head Climate Change Research Group of Pakistan.
Modern technology can drastically improve farming methods in developing countries. But, the highly industrialized and large-scale farming of the developed countries is not a model of sustainability, requiring large amounts of water, energy, pesticides and artificial fertilizers. When talking about intensifying farming means something completely different. Using better logistics, education, mobile phones and new ecological insights. “Making hunger disappear is not about higher productivity and it is about using nature in a smart way,” Dr. Syed Aftab Wajid (Crop Modeler) claims. A higher yield per acre is not the start but the result of a combination of several mechanisms. Better organization of food production, better education of farmers, better roads, making sure that farmers have access to credit. Put the better infrastructure and institutions in place and the result will be that farmers produce more. Take the smart phone, for example, a wonderful way to bring people and food together. Thanika Pathomwichaiwat, a young girl from Village Area of Thailand who is bringing consumers and farmers together by using mobile technology. If they can reach their customers in this way, they have a big incentive to improve their production.
YIELD-RAISING STRATEGIES
In developing countries new nature-smart technologies, better organization and the latest organic insights can easily improve agricultural production. Even now it is already feeding half the world population. It is easier to bring the yield from 1 to 3 tonnes per hectare in developing countries than it is to go from 12 to 14 tonnes in developed countries. The main advantage of course is that the extra food will be available where it is most needed. Organically managed soil has more biodiversity, which you need for a higher production. The science of soil biology is going forward at a high pace. We must find the clever combinations of crops in space and time can bring better yields than the mere use of fertilizers and pesticides. The problem is that in the developed countries, most investments and scientific research still go into the industrialized, large-scale farming, while in developing countries small-scale farmers have no access to modern technology and the latest scientific knowledge. Likewise, they lack the good infrastructure to optimize their food production. Pakistan wastes several tonnes of wheat every year through poor storage and distribution. In developed countries, an elite group of consumers is getting more interested in organically produced food. Mainly because the industrial farming methods are heavily subsidized, organic products are more expensive. Moreover, there is a yield gap between traditional and organic production. If more research money went into agro-ecological production, that gap would disappear altogether.
Consumers can also play a major role in changing the agricultural production methods. Market by itself cannot cause a major shift towards ecological farming, as governments make the present production methods viable. In developing countries intensifying agriculture in a sustainable way is even more reliant on the government. If you can stimulate industrial agricultural production by subsidizing it, as has been the case in most western countries, why not do the same with organic production? Can you even begin to imagine what the impact would be if Pakistani government gives ecological farming the same financial and academic support as traditional farming? In the long run it will be the only way to feed the growing population of Pakistan and if implemented worldwide, it would contribute to “A world free from Hunger”.
The authors are associated with: 1) University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, 2) Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT. and 3) National Maize Research Programme, Turkey.