Land Resources and Productivity Potential - Agro-Ecological Methodology for Agriculture Development Planning

Understanding the nature and dimension of the land and water resources for food and agriculture development and the policies available to develop them have been the focal point of the work of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. As we anticipate over the coming decades a technological transformation of agriculture which will be constrained by resource limitations and which could have serious environmental consequences, a number of important questions arise: (a) What is the stable, sustainable production potential of the world? of regions? of nations? (b) How does this production potential in specific areas (within countries as well as groups of countries) compare to the food requirements of the future populations of these areas? potential? (c) What alternative transition paths are available to reach desirable levels of this production potential? (d) What are the sustainable and efficient combinations of techniques of food production? (e) What are the resource requirements of such techniques? (f) What are the policy implications at national, regional and global levels of sustainability? Stability and sustainability are both desirable properties of agricultural land resources development, inter-generational equity as well as of political stability and peace. We hold ecological considerations to be of critical importance in answering the questions posed above. Limits to food production are set by soil and climatic conditions and by the use, and management, of the land. In the long term, any "mining" of land beyond these limits will result in degradation and decreased productivity. Accordingly, there are critical levels of production obtainable, in perpetuity, from any given land area and hence critical levels of populations that can be supported from this area. It is crucial to take account of the physical resource base for potential production as well as the socio-economic aspects that will influence the actual production. The population and land resources study, carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in collaboration with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, with funding from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is concerned with the quantitative evaluation of the land resources' food productive capacity on the basis of soil, climate and crop data under specified technological conditions. The methodology and resource data base developed within this study provides a first approximation of the food production potentials and the population supporting potentials for 117 countries in five regions of the developing world. The most fruitful and promising avenue for further work and application of the methodology is in relation to detailed country case studies. The aim of this report is to describe the agro-ecological methodology and specify the data needs, with special emphasis on methodological and data refinements for detailed country agricultural planning studies. The report should be of particular interest and use to institutions in countries considering an ecological--technological--economic approach to the planning of agricultural development

Food Production Potential and Assessment of Population Supporting Capacity - Methodology and Application

Understanding the nature and dimension of the food problem and the policies available to alleviate it has been the focal point of the Food and Agriculture Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) since the program began in 1977. In the program we are not only concerned with policies over a 5-15 year time horizon, but also with a long term perspective to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the food problems of the world. As we anticipate over the coming decades a technological transformation of agriculture which will be constrained by resource limitations and which could have serious environmental consequences, a number of important questions arise. (a) What is the stable, sustainable production potential of the world? of regions? of nations? (b) Can mankind be fed adequately by this stable, sustainable production potential? (c) What alternative transition paths are available to reach desirable levels of this production potential? (d) What are sustainable, efficient combinations of techniques of food production? (e) What are the resource requirements of such techniques? (f) What are the policy implications at national, regional global levels of sustainability? Stability and sustainability are both desirable properties from the considerations of inter-generational equity as well as of political stability and peace. We hold environmental considerations to be of critical importance in answering the questions posed. This report presents the results of a case study of Kenya carried out as a part of the FAO/UNFPA Project INT/513, Land Resources for Populations of the Future, being carried out in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Program, IIASA. The results are preliminary and should be regarded as the first approximation. At the present time a detailed case study of Kenya (Phase 2, FAO/Kenya/IIASA Study) is being carried out. As understanding of the ecological and technological limits of food production is a critical part of agricultural development planning, this report highlights the results for Kenya and the methodology of evaluating agricultural production potential, population supporting capacity and soil degradation hazards. Policy relevance and implications for Kenya are briefly discussed. This preliminary report in collaboration with the Land and Water Division of the FAO is the first of a series on the potential and limits of food production in developing countries

People, Land and Food Production - Potentials in the Developing World

Understanding the nature and dimension of the land and water resources available for food and agriculture development, and the policies available to develop them, have been among the focal points of the work of the Land and Water Development Division of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and of the Food and Agriculture Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. As we anticipate, over the coming decades, a technological transformation of agriculture which will be constrained by resource limitations and which could have environmental consequences, a number of important questions arise: (a) What is the stable, sustainable production potential of the world? of regions? of nations? (b) How does this production potential in specific areas (within countries and groups of countries) compare to the food requirements of the future populations of these areas? (c) What alternative transition paths are available to reach desirable levels of this production potential? (d) What are the sustainable and efficient combinations of techniques of food production? (e) What are the input requirements of such techniques? (f) What are the policy implications at national, regional and global levels of sustainability? Stability and sustainability are both desirable properties of agricultural land resources development. We hold ecological considerations to be of critical importance in answering the questions posed above. This paper presents the results of a recent study entitled "Land Resources for the Populations of the Future" carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Program of IIASA with financial support from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. The study was designed to quantify potential population supporting capacities of land resources in the developing regions of the world, based on ecological and technological limits to food production. An understanding of these limits is critical to agricultural policy formulation and development planning. This paper highlights policy implications for developing countries

Potential of Forage Legumes in Land-Use Intensification Towards Sustainable Crop-Livestock Production Systems in West Africa

Poverty, high population pressure on land-use, and the inability of maintaining fertility through traditional farming and land management practices are contributing to land degradation and decline in agricultural productivity in most West African countries. Improved farming practices and land management alternatives that can raise productivity and protect the agricultural resource base are urgently required to meet future food demands. It was in this context that the potential of forage legumes in crop-livestock systems in West Africa was examined by International Centre for Africa (ILCA). The ability of forage legumes to biologically fix nitrogen and provide livestock feed of good quality are potential benefits offered by adapted legume fallows compared to natural fallows used in traditional systems. These are important considerations in effective management of nutrients and soil fertility through crop-livestock systems. Previous work in West Africa has considered forage legumes mainly from a viewpoint of their potential contribution to livestock feed improvement; their potential contribution to soil management has not been systematically assessed. This joint International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/IIASA work addresses the potential of both

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Crops of the west African semi-arid tropics

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Land husbandry: an agro-ecological approach to land use and management Part 2: Consideration of soil conditions

This paper, complementing the first part (Shaxson et al., 2014), sketches the outlines of an ecologically-based approach to better care of soils, within the overarching context of ‘land husbandry’, contributing to more-effective conservation of soil and water. It suggests an up-dated paradigm which concentrates more on renewing and conserving the biologically-moderated spaces in the soil in the root-zone rather than on the solid soil-particles themselves. When read in sequence, the two papers offer contributions to better understanding of both the problems and the possibilities for solving the ongoing uncertainties of how best to repair damaged lands, to maintain and improve those areas already in use, and to safeguard the potentials of those as-yet-unopened areas which surely will be brought into production in the future, by the planning and executing of optimum strategies for assuring sustainability of their uses into the future. These two papers do not set out to challenge existing knowledge, but rather to suggest additions to, and alternative interpretations of, what may already be known. The conclusions suggest some important amplifications to any curriculum for the training and/or up-dating of people involved in those subject-areas which contribute to better land husbandry and more-effective conservation of soil and water, as well as to the buffering of soils’ productive capacities against the possible adverse effects of climate change

Cereal physiology in relation to genetic improvement of sorghum and millet at ICRISAT

Meeting: Cereal Consultation Group Meeting, 14-19 Apr. 1975, Hyderabad, INIDRC personnel. Monograph on physiology research programme at ICRISAT (International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) concerned with the genetic improvement of sorghum and millet - discusses agricultural projects within the physiology programme, agricultural research