Rome, Italy
April 17, 2009

On the eve of the first ever meeting of the G8 devoted to agriculture, which opens tomorrow in Treviso, Italy, Bioversity International calls on Ministers to seize the opportunity to give greater prominence to agricultural biodiversity.

“Humanity faces great challenges: to feed a growing population and reduce hunger and malnutrition in a world that also needs to protect the environment and to address climate change,” said Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International. “I urge the Agriculture Ministers to ensure that agricultural biodiversity can play a greater role in ensuring real food security.”

Agricultural biodiversity comprises the different ecosystems, species and genetic variability that contribute to food production. Some components, such as livestock breeds and crop varieties, are actively managed by farmers and scientists. Others, such as soil microbes and many pollinators, provide valuable services without being actively managed. While it has been common to consider agricultural biodiversity solely as a source of traits for breeders to incorporate in advanced crop varieties and livestock breeds, Frison points out that reliance on this approach may be unsustainable.

Research over the past 70 years has achieved large increases in agricultural production and productivity that have allowed food supplies to keep pace with a growing population.
However, this success has required production methods that depend on greater use of fossil fuels and the development of high yielding uniform varieties, which together drive increasing specialization, simplification and homogenization of production systems. Continuing inputs of water, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides and increasing uniformity of crops and livestock underpin today’s fragile food security.

Partly in response to increasing specialization, simplification and uniformity, concerns about the sustainability of modern agricultural methods are growing.
The use of a few varieties of a few crops brings with it increased vulnerability to pests and diseases. It also reduces the availability of the agricultural diversity essential for a nutritionally sound diet. The extensive use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides damages the environment, while the financial and energy costs of these inputs can put them out of the reach of farmers, so that productivity suffers.

Climate change will have a significant impact on agricultural production. Temperature regimes, precipitation patterns and the distribution of pests and diseases will be transformed, requiring different crops and new varieties in many production systems. Climatic variability is expected to increase, calling for new approaches to maintain adaptability and provide resilience in food production systems. Some parts of the world may have to radically transform the way they produce food.

Unquestionably there is a continuing need to produce more food. However, this must be combined with improving sustainability, increasing nutritional well being and ensuring that agricultural production practices are able to adapt to climate change.

Research by Bioversity International and others has shown that the judicious use of agricultural biodiversity is a vital factor in meeting these challenges. It can reduce problems of pests and diseases, improve nutritional health, increase soil fertility, deliver other ecosystem services, and promote resilience and true food security. Diverse farms will be better able to withstand the shocks and unpredictability of climate change. Agricultural biodiversity also provides the basis to adapt to climate change, since it is from this diversity that selections better adapted to the new conditions caused by climate change will emerge.

Durable food security is needed not only in the developing world but also in the G8 countries represented at the historic meeting of G8 Ministers of Agriculture. Investment in agricultural research has been declining around the world.
Only a renewed commitment to research will ensure that production systems are able sustainably to meet the needs of the people and to respond to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

“We need to increase productivity and diversity,” said Frison. “We need intensification without simplification. I hope Ministers will embrace the challenge offered them and will take concrete action to ensure that agricultural biodiversity is enabled to play its rightful role as a key component of real food security.

Bioversity International, with its Headquarters in Rome, Italy, has worked for more than 35 years to support the improved use and conservation of agricultural diversity.
Through international research, in collaboration with FAO and partners throughout the world, Bioversity strives to build the knowledge base needed to ensure effective use of diversity to increase sustainable agricultural production, improve livelihoods and meet the challenge of climate change.

Website: http://www.bioversityinternational.org

Published: April 17, 2009