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                               Feeding the World

   by Joe DeCapua

   Twenty years after the first Earth Summit, Brazil is set to host Rio
   plus 20, officially known as the U.N. Conference on Sustainable
   Development. Agricultural experts say food security should be at the
   top of the agenda.
   The head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, or
   IFAD, said critical decisions on food security should be made at Rio +
   20.
   "This is an event that occurs perhaps once every decade. It creates a
   real sense of urgency. I think a lot can be achieved if we can show the
   same level of determination in alleviating global poverty and food
   security the way we are handling the global financial crisis," said Dr.
   Kanayo Nwanze.
   He said that determination should focus on helping the world's
   smallholder farmers - something that could not have happened at the
   original Earth Summit.
   "I think our mindset has changed. Twenty years ago we saw smallholder
   agriculture as being unproductive and unable to feed the world. We now
   have statistics that show that 80 percent of all agricultural farmland
   is smallholder agriculture, less than two hectares. And then for the
   developing world, 80 percent or more of all food that is consumed
   locally [is] produced by smallholders," he said.
   Frontline farmers
   Calls for greater investment in smallholder farms grew following the
   2008/2009 food crisis. Agricultural initiatives were launched at the G8
   summit in L'Aquila, Italy and again at the recent G8 summit in Camp
   David, Maryland.
   "The mistake we make is that we see smallholder farmers as just a bunch
   of people who are working for handouts. On the contrary, they are on
   the frontline of investors. They are the first investors in agriculture
   and they're the most. Number two, they are on the frontline in terms of
   protecting the environment and saving our biodiversity,' he said.
   And they make up a big part of the world's population.
   "We're talking about 500 million smallholder farms globally. Now on the
   average of 4 to 5 [persons] per farm family, you're looking at anything
   from between 2 and 3 billion. That's half of the world's population,"
   he said.
   Adding value to produce
   The IFAD president added that productive agriculture must be
   climate-smart agriculture.
   "Smallholders are smart people," he said, "When they have access to
   resources - to land, to irrigation, to inputs, to financial services,
   to infrastructure - productivity increases. They're more conscious
   about preserving their land than anyone else.
   He says improving smallholder farm productivity has a direct effect on
   development. Farmers establish "micro-enterprises" - small
   agriculture-related businesses."
   "They're adding value to produce. And they're adding not only in terms
   of caloric value, but in terms of monetary value to their produce. They
   become economically viable entities. And they begin to demand
   government for infrastructure, for roads, for schools, for clinics.
   Communities begin to change," he said.
   But farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, currently face many
   challenges. Nwanze says they lack fertilizers, better seeds, and
   irrigation, as well as financial and social support. For example,
   African farmers apply only about 13 kilograms of fertilizer per
   hectare. Compare that to farmers in India where the average is over
   140. In Europe, the average is between 200 and 250 kilograms per
   hectare. In addition, less than 5 percent of African farmland has
   irrigation systems. Most of that is in South Africa and North African
   countries. So, there's plenty of opportunity to greatly boost crop
   yields without the need to clear more land.
   "Africa," said Nwanze, "has the potential not only of feeding itself,
   but of feeding the world.
   The head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development said
   agricultural investment needs to increase by tens of billions of
   dollars per year. He said delegates to Rio+20 should look for areas of
   common agreement, adding food security is the most plausible.  The
   summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro from June 20th to the 22nd.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/decapua-rio20-ifad-15jun12/1211396.html