Crop Protection Benefit Article of the Week:

November 13th 2009

One of the overarching questions in agriculture today is how can we feed the world in the coming decades? The UN estimates by 2030 there will be 1.7 billion more mouths to feed and by 2050 global food demands will skyrocket 250%. Over the past 50 years through the use of new and innovative agriculture technologies we have been able to significantly boost our crop production in order to support our growing population. Even in the past 20 years we have boosted production worldwide per hectare from 1.8 tonnes per hectare to 2.5 tonnes. But as just about everyone in agriculture understands, we cannot rest on our laurels, continued development is necessary. Each day the world population increases and we need solutions to feed this population.

Luckily we have reached such an advanced point in history where the oldest profession in the world, farming, is colliding with rapidly developing technologies. Today’s benefit article takes a look at a nation that experienced an unprecedented population explosion this past half century. However despite becoming the most populous nation on earth this country has successfully kept her people fed and thriving while even reducing the number of people farming. In 1950 the population of China was a mere 563 million but since has ballooned to over 1.3 billion. With such rapid expansion the government had to embrace technology in order to maximize what was grown on their lands. In fact from 1970 to 2001 the percentage of people involved in agriculture in China dropped 20%, significantly adding to the labor force that has been the driving force behind their industrialization.

Today China looks to increase their production even further for the coming decades. One technology they have been experimenting with is new strains of rice. Rice being the ultimate staple of China (it is considered the main food for 60 percent of the population) it is critical for them to boost production. China Daily this past June documented the incredibly success they have had using new strains in order to boost production. The success has been astounding.

The rice output in China averages 7.1 tonnes per hectare, and the world’s average is 3.9 tonnes per hectare

However these new strains QUADRUPLE world averages:

69 varieties of new super rice strains, and all have an average output potential of 10.5 tonnes to 12 tonnes per hectare….with the highest output at 13.55 tonnes per hectare

With such incredible success it is no surprise they are making plans to develop 30 new strains and to boost cultivation to 10 million hectares.

As was said earlier the greatest challenge facing our world right now is how can we feed a growing population?? With more people to house we are going to need to grow more on less and in order to do this we need to embrace agriculture technology. Solutions that increase the amount of acreage we grow on are simply not practical. Many movements out there seem to reject the advancements in agriculture we have seen in the past few decades and see older methods as being the way forward. Moving backwards is NOT an option. In nations like the U.S. we may be able to support these pipedreams but if we do not look to the future then the developing world will certainly pay the price for our imposed beliefs.

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[China Daily: 20% of rice fields grew high-yield super rice by '08]

[More about challenges in next 40 years and stats on how production must change]

November 5th 2009

In light of the very positive response we received to last week’s crop protection benefit article of the week post that focused on how fungicides could be used to save lives in the fight against Ug99, this week we are focusing again on how products can be used in Africa to not just help feed a population but benefit the health of those living there.

Starting in the 1970s the World Health Organization began a concerted effort to eradicate the black fly in West Africa. This insect was a devastating scourge because of its ability to pass on the disease, onchocerciasis. An incredibly painful and debilitating disease, onchoceriasis, is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. The disease infects the host and spread worms throughout the body that creates such a strong immune response the body itself will often attack tissue nearby. Oftentimes the eyes are a casualty of the host body’s overzealousness.

In West Africa the disease was blinding thousands every year as colonizers established new villages on the riverbeds where the black flies lived. After several hundred thousand were blinded by 1970 the WHO began a five hundred million dollar eradication program in 1974 with the complete eradication of the disease being the only goal.

A three step process was developed:
            Treatment
            Elimination
            Preservation

The WHO would treat those who had already been infected with the hope that their sight could still be saved. They would use insecticides in order to kill the flies and save villagers from these deadly insects and would make sure that in their effort to destroy the insect they would preserve the biodiversity of the rest of the ecosystem.

Following incredibly success through the 70s, 80s, and 90s the program began to wind down until 2002 when it was passed on to the African people to continue. It was estimated at this point that over 400,000 were saved from going blind. It was a complete success…almost.

In the Ivory Coast since 2002 has been racked with civil war. As a result the health system has broken down and the spraying for black flies long since ended. River blindness is making a strong resurgence and “according to news reports, villagers are eager for spraying to be brought back.” Imagine if crop protection products throughout West Africa were banned as some NGOs have called for in the past. It would not be the Ivory Coast as the only nation beset by this horrific problem, we would see blindness skyrocket.

The Ivory Coast represents a tragic case but the overall image represents the powerful message. It shows what crop protection products such as insecticides can do when applied correctly. The WHO, with a strong forward looking mentality recognized the importance of these products while also ensuring they protected the environment around them. They were able to establish the balance that many are struggling to find today -- how to use crop protection products while protecting the world around us. It makes one think, if they could come up in 1974 with a way in which to save hundreds of thousands from going blind while preserving biodiversity then we should be eager for what scientists can do in the decades ahead. As agricultural science begins to blaze a new path it is important that we recognize, as the WHO did, the powerful affect these products can have on a person’s life but at the same time making sure to take care of the environment is being used upon.

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More on the WHO's Efforts

More on problems in Ivory Coast

Powerful Article by Breakthrough Magazine on one man's direct experience with the program and the people