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Saving crop diversity key to winning war on hunger

ITALY: July 4, 2001

 

 

MACCARESE, Italy - Agricultural biodiversity must be saved in order to

guarantee global food security as the population grows and the planet warms

up, a leading plant geneticist said yesterday.

 

 

" Around 25 percent of all plant species are in some way under threat, "

Geoffrey Hawtin, director general of the International Plant Genetic

Resources Institute (IPGRI), said.Speaking at the inauguration of IPGRI's new

headquarters at Maccarese outside Rome, he said that research was urgently

needed to save crop diversity as an insurance policy against global warming

and a rapidly growing population. Some 800 million people go to bed hungry,

according to the United Nations.Scientists will have to develop plant

varieties resistant to drought, salinity and disease in order to increase the

rate of food production to keep up with the expanding population.But, plant

varieties are becoming extinct at an unprecedented rate, according to IPGRI,

an international institute dedicated to the conservation and use of plant

genetic resources for food and agriculture. " Every year more than 15 million

hectares of tropical forest are destroyed and...eight percent of plant

species run the risk of extinction in the next 25 years, " it said in a

statement.Over the past 50 years new high-yielding uniform varieties of crops

have taken the place of thousands of local varieties across large productive

areas.Hawtin said that in India 50-60 years ago some 30,000 different types

of wheat existed, but now 90 percent of wheat acreage was from just 10

varieties as farmers demanded more productive crops. " This reduction in

genetic diversity will have notable repercussions in the long term on food

security, " IPGRI said.SEARCH FOR STRONGER PLANTSIPGRI works with its partners

across the world to create crop varieties that are stronger, more productive

and more nutritious. It uses traditional plant breeding methods and, to a

lesser extent, biotechnology.Hawtin said that he welcomed Sunday's

international agreement at the United Nations world food body which set a

framework for the sharing and conservation of plant genetic resources,

including access to the world's public seed banks.But he warned that it would

be difficult for countries to agree on intellectual property rights for

seeds.Delegates from 161 nations meeting at the U.N. Food and Agriculture

Organisation (FAO) failed to resolve a core issue over the patenting of

seeds, which pits many poor countries and environmentalists against

multinational corporations and wealthier nations.A FAO conference, due to be

held in November, will next consider the patents issue. " If a clause on

patents is going to be adopted, it's going to have to be a very neutral

statement, " Hawtin told Reuters. " There is a positive side to patents, but we

have to be careful that the negative effects...do not hurt the most

vulnerable in society. " Environmentalist groups say the patenting of food and

seeds by multinational companies threatens food security and access by

farmers to genetic resources.The life sciences industry, on the other hand,

believes that seed patents are a vital incentive for research.Italian

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi inaugurated the new headquarters of IPGRI,

which is funded mainly by developed country donors and development agencies.

It has a staff of 200 and 18 offices and research laboratories around the

world.

 

 

Story by David Brough

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE