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Agricultural Production and Environment: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Margaret R. Biswas
Margaret R. Biswas
Affiliation:
Balliol College, Oxford, England, U.K.
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Extract

There is no doubt whatever that changes in the development strategies in the agricultural sector will be essential if mankind is to eliminate world hunger—at least if human populations continue to grow as currently envisaged. In this review an attempt has been made to outline some of the criteria on which new approaches should be based. It should also be realized that the changes which it will be necessary to adopt for an alternative form of development will not be easy, because any such changes are bound to affect some segments of the population adversely, and one can be assured that vested interests will oppose them strongly. Thus, it is somewhat naive to assume that even an obviously improved policy will be automatically adopted. The proponents of the change will have to convince the people at large that such changes will be beneficial and necessary. It will not be an easy task, but certainly worth while to accomplish.

In order for land, water, and various inputs, to be used most efficiently for maximizing agricultural production on a sustainable basis, it will be essential to have an effective organizational infrastructure as well as a well-trained cadre of people. While bringing new land under cultivation is a viable alternative to solving the food problem in some countries, in many others far more effective use than at present must be made of existing land, especially addressing the problem of soil-loss. Failure to introduce terracing is a good example of failure to use existing technology, while on the other hand inappropriate technologies are liable to be introduced. South-south transfer of technology can present as many problems as north-south transfer of technology, as the attempt to transfer the processing of cashew-nuts from India to Tanzania has demonstrated.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1984 , pp. 253 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1984

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References

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