IRIN examines new global agricultural strategy report

Mar 27 2010

IRIN examines a new global food security strategy based on a report to be presented on March 28 in France at the first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD). The article includes details about food insecurity around the world, which has given rise to the need for new methods of providing more food. 

The report, part of the Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D), was requested by the G8 and is based on interviews with 2,000 experts. According to IRIN, "The aim of AR4D is to achieve sustainable food and income security for all food producers and consumers, especially the poor, using the same resources - land, labour, water - available within the constraints of climate change and an expanding population."

The report "calls for a broader approach and departs from the traditional methods where scientists were kept away from the process that delivered the new technology to farmers," IRIN writes. Uma Lele, a retired senior adviser to the World Bank and  lead author of the report, said, "The focus is on developing technology and adapting it to the local conditions."  

The article also examines some of the challenges that could prevent the expansion of agriculture worldwide and looks at the urgency of the food security situation (3/25).