The Green Revolution in Africa:
Xinhuanet Nairobi 65438+1October 9-Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals, said at the press conference held at the UN office in Nairobi on September 9 that the current famine sweeping the African continent is shocking, and Africa urgently needs a "green revolution" aimed at promoting agricultural development and eliminating hunger and poverty. At the same time, he called on developed countries to earnestly fulfill their commitments to help Africa.
Sachs pointed out that the severe famine faced by the African continent has not attracted enough attention from the whole world. At present, 5 million people in Malawi alone need emergency food aid. This large-scale famine, mainly caused by drought, once again exposed that Africa's investment in agricultural science and technology and water resources management is far from enough.
Sachs said that in terms of aid to Africa, developed countries always talk too much, and the promised aid is often not faithfully fulfilled. He called on rich countries to take concrete actions to help the African continent start a "green revolution" so that these countries can gradually solve the problem of food and clothing for their people.
The latest Global Food and Agriculture Information and Early Warning Report released by FAO shows that 27 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are facing severe famine and are in urgent need of food aid from the international community.
Sachs is also the head of the United Nations Millennium Project. The project is led by an independent advisory committee appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Its main task is to provide a global action plan for promoting the Millennium Development Goals.
Biotechnology and Green Revolution
-Interview with norman borlaug
Q: What is the Green Revolution?
Borlaug: The Green Revolution began in the1940s, when I joined a new project. Funded by Rockefeller Foundation, the project is dedicated to helping poor farmers in Mexico to increase wheat production. It took us nearly 20 years to cultivate high-yield dwarf wheat, which can resist a series of pests and diseases, and its yield is two to three times that of traditional varieties.
Finally, in the1960s, we were able to extend this project to Pakistan and India to teach local farmers to cultivate new wheat correctly. The result is very good:
● The wheat production in Pakistan increased from 4.6 million tons in 1965 to 8.4 million tons in 1970.
● India's output increased from12.3 million tons in 1956 to 20 million tons in 1970.
1968, the director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) wrote in his annual report that Pakistan and India have made great progress and "look like a green revolution". This is the origin of the word "green revolution". In addition, these "green people" did not contribute to the green revolution to alleviate world hunger.
/kloc-During the 1980s, the success of the Green Revolution spread to China, and now China is the largest grain producer in the world.
Q: Is global famine still a threat as it was in the 1960s?
Borlaug: Yes. For example, several countries in Africa now have food crises. This is what our Africa project is trying to solve-former President Jimmy Carter is also involved. Our joint project is called Sasakawa-Global 2000. We are helping farmers who are struggling with food shortage in many countries and helping them to carry out the most possible agricultural practices, such as selecting seeds and controlling weeds. We have the technology to double or triple the grain output, but there is no feasible transportation system in these countries-no roads or railways. For example, the cost of transporting fertilizer to these places will be three to four times that of American farmers. Even if African farmers can produce more food, how can they send it to cities?
Sub-Saharan African countries suffer from poor soil and unstable rainfall. They lack trained agronomists and skills, and so on. However, the yield of the experimental field of our African project-planting corn, sorghum, wheat, cassava, rice and beans-is two or three times that of the control experimental field using traditional methods.
Q: What do you want to say to those who oppose the use of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries?
Borlaug: Biotechnology will help these countries achieve the goal that traditional crop breeding technology can never achieve. Biotechnology is more accurate and agriculture takes less time. The public should better understand the importance of biotechnology in food production, so that it will not be criticized.
You must admit that people's eating habits are hard to change. You have to start with the most basic food crops in a country, and then apply biotechnology to this crop, so that you can double or triple the original output. You first plant these crops in several experimental fields to show the potential of this new crop to farmers. It is easier for you to bring them seeds than fertilizer. Where fertilizer can be bought, many farmers still have no money to buy it. When farmers see the success of their experimental fields, they can help change government policies and public attitudes towards biotechnology.
In Africa, biotechnology has great potential. One example is glyphosate-resistant crops. Herbicide-resistant genes were introduced into crops. These biotechnological crops have promoted beneficial agricultural techniques. For example, in traditional African farmland, sharp weeds are rampant, so farmers use cutting and burning methods. Herbicide-resistant crops can eliminate these weeds.
Although biotechnology has a good prospect in grain production, we can't ignore the traditional breeding methods because they are still very important. In the last century (20th century), traditional breeding methods created high yield, and will continue to maintain high yield in this century.
Q: Studies show that some genetically modified crops carry toxins and allergens. Aren't these foods a threat to human health?
Borlaug: There is no good evidence that these foods are toxic, but I know that allergies may exist. Allergens have existed in natural foods for a long time, so why not in genetically modified crops? Researchers have been monitoring allergens in crops and can improve seeds to reduce risks. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have analyzed many foods, including those that humans ate at the beginning of agriculture. Their report shows that some natural foods contain trace amounts of toxic or carcinogenic natural chemicals. These foods don't seem to hurt us.
If you are a theoretical scientist, you can think philosophically about this matter. But I have been working in this field for a long time, and I think genetically modified food crops will stop the famine in the world. I realize the value of crops cultivated by traditional breeding techniques, but I also realize the vitality of crops carrying herbicide-resistant genes (or any genes introduced by biotechnology).
Q: What about the environmental hazards of [biotechnology]?
Borlaug: Biotechnology helps farmers produce more food on less land. This is very beneficial to the environment. For example, the world grain output in 1950 was 692 million tons. About 40 years later, farmers all over the world cultivated almost the same area of land, but their harvest was1900 million tons-an increase of 170%! If we use the same traditional farming methods in 1999 as in 1950, we need an extra/kloc-0.8 billion hectares of land.
If we continue to use traditional farming methods, in order to increase arable land and produce enough food for the growing population, we will cut down millions of acres of forests, thus destroying the habitat of wild animals. And we will use more herbicides in more fields, which will do more harm to the environment. [Biotechnology] Let's reduce soil erosion and reduce the impact on biodiversity, wildlife, forests and grasslands.
Q: Can farmers in developing countries get biotechnology products?
Borlaug: Although biotechnology has great potential, how to acquire these technologies is a problem. Most research on crops is carried out by private enterprises, and these groups have applied for patents for their inventions. Farmers in developing countries have few resources. How can they afford these patented products? The government needs to take these problems seriously.
The government also needs to focus on other issues, such as genetically modified food testing system, funding public sector research, and better educating the public on agricultural science and technology issues. Most people in the "western" world live in cities, and they don't know what to feed the world with. These people can afford expensive "organic" foods and criticize genetically modified foods. They put pressure on the government to ban genetically modified foods, which will be disastrous for developing countries.
Q: What role do you think the green revolution will play in this century?
Borlaug: The Green Revolution is underway. Millions of people in the world are malnourished. According to the medium birth rate, the world population is expected to reach 8.3 billion in 2025. I calculated that we needed an extra 654.38 billion tons of grain at that time. We need to increase production to feed these people-bushels per acre and grain production per hectare. Due to the expansion of urbanization, higher output is particularly important now. Urbanization will take away farmland. We also need traditional breeding and biotechnology to meet the challenges of this century.
About the author: Norman Borlaug, the father of the "Green Revolution", won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to overcome global famine all his life. Dr. borlaug currently works part-time as a senior scientist at Rockefeller Foundation and at A & amptime as a Texas A & Famous professor of international agriculture, Department of Soil and Crop Science, M University. He also served as a consultant on wheat research and production for many governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He has won many honors from the civil and scientific circles, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom of 1977 and the Public Service Medal awarded by the American Academy of Sciences in 2002. Bruce Alberts, president of the American Academy of Sciences, once commented on borlaug: "Some people praised him for saving more human lives than anyone in history." Dr. borlaug received his doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Minsuda in 194 1.
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