Stephen Leahy
The results of a painstaking examination of global agriculture are
being formally presented Tuesday with the release of the final report for
the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for
Development.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The results of a painstaking examination
of global agriculture are being formally presented Tuesday with the release
of the final report for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science
and Technology for Development (IAASTD).

The assessment has explored how agriculture can be reinvented to feed
the world's expanding population sustainably in an era of multiple
challenges -- not least those presented by climate change and a growing food
crisis that has led to outbreaks of violence in a number of developing
countries.

The expertise of some 400 scientists and other specialists was tapped
for the IAASTD; governments of wealthy and developing nations also
contributed to the assessment, along with civil society and the private
sector.

Both scientific knowledge and traditional skills were evaluated under
the IAASTD, which marked the first attempt to bring all actors in
agriculture together to address food security (See: 'Q&A: "Increase
Agricultural Productivity While Reducing the Environmental Footprint"').
Contributors produced five regional assessments, and a 110-page-plus
synthesis report.

Amongst the 22 findings of the study that chart a new direction for
agriculture: a conclusion that the dominant practice of industrial,
large-scale agriculture is unsustainable, mainly because of the dependence
of such farming on cheap oil, its negative effects on ecosystems -- and
growing water scarcity.

Instead, monocultures must be reconsidered in favour of
agro-ecosystems that marry food production with ensuring water supplies
remain clean, preserving biodiversity, and improving the livelihoods of the
poor.
"Given the future challenges it was very clear to everyone that
business as usual was not an option," IAASTD Co-chair Hans Herren told IPS.
He was speaking at an Apr. 7-12 intergovernmental plenary in South Africa's
commercial hub, Johannesburg, where the assessment findings were reviewed
ahead of Tuesday's presentation.

While global supplies of food are adequate, 850 million people are
still hungry and malnourished because they can't get access to or afford the
supplies they need, added Herren -- who is also president of the
Arlington-based Millennium Institute, a body that undertakes a variety of
developmental activities around the world. A focus only on boosting crop
yields would not deal with the problems at hand, he said: "We need better
quality food in the right places."

The notion that yield can no longer be the sole measure of
agricultural success was also raised by Greenpeace International's Jan van
Aken, who said that the extent to which agriculture promotes nutrition needs
to be considered. A half-hectare plot in Thailand can grow 70 species of
vegetables, fruits and herbs, providing far better nutrition and feeding
more people than a half-hectare plot of high-yielding rice, he added.

The IAASTD further notes that experts in agricultural science and
technology must not only work with local farmers, but also economists,
social and health scientists, governments and civil society.

"We can't solve these problems in the agriculture department alone,"
observed the other IAASTD co-chair, Judi Wakhungu, who is also executive
director of the African Centre for Technology Studies. The centre is
headquartered in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

"Leadership will be needed to make this change," she added, in
acknowledgement of the fact that most governments, research centres and
others in sectors linked to agriculture are unaccustomed to joining hands,
and often compete for funding.

The plenary was marked by some disagreement over the
ever-controversial matters of biotechnology and trade: indeed, during a long
and fraught debate over biotechnology, the meeting very nearly fell apart.
U.S. and Australian government representatives objected to wording in the
synthesis report that highlighted concerns about whether the use of
genetically modified (GM) crops in food is healthy and safe.

This issue, along with challenges pertaining to trade, had been
thoroughly debated over the three-year IAASTD process and the final wording
reflected scientific evidence. The report says biotechnology has a role to
play in the future but that it remains a contentious matter, the data on
benefits of GM crops being mixed; it further notes that patenting of genes
causes problems for farmers and researchers.

Syngenta and the other biotech and pesticide companies abandoned the
assessment process late last year.

The impasse at the plenary was broken when the two countries agreed to
a footnote in the report indicating their reservations about the wording.
They also agreed to accept the report as a whole, along with Canada and
Swaziland: "Our government will champion this even though we have
reservations on some parts," the Australian delegate told the meeting.

The other 60 countries represented at the plenary took a stronger
position, moving beyond acceptance to adopt the report.

"I'm stunned. I didn't think it would pass," said Janice Jiggins of
the Department of Social Science at the University of Wageningen in the
Netherlands, and one of the experts who worked to review the totality of
agricultural know-how and the effects of farming around the world.

There was also broad endorsement from civil society.

"We have a very strong anti-GMO (genetically-modified organism) stance
but agreed to accept the synthesis report findings because it was neutral,"
noted van Aken. "We're not happy with everything, but we agree with the
scientific consensus in the synthesis report."

Now, the IAASTD moves from testing the endurance of researchers to
trying the political will of decision makers.

"These documents are like a bible with which to negotiate with various
institutions in my country and transform agriculture," the Costa Rican
delegate told the Johannesburg gathering, through a translator.

Others were more circumspect about the prospects for the assessment,
but still hopeful.

"We're all headed in the same direction now, even if some are walking
and some are running," said Wakhungu.


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