Lanka to benefit from crop research

Countries including Sri Lanka hit by soaring food prices can achieve remarkable results by crop research, an international agricultural research agency said.

Climate change is credited as one of the main drivers behind soaring food prices, to the Global Crop Diversity Trust said.

Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Trust said they are searching crop collections worldwide for the traits that could arm agriculture against the impact of future changes.

Climate change, Fowler said, is having the most negative impact in the poorest regions of the world, already causing a decrease in yields of most major food crops due to droughts, floods, increasingly salty soils and higher temperatures. Traits, such as drought resistance in wheat, or salinity tolerance in potato, will become essential, Flower said, as crops around the world have to adapt to new climate conditions.

Soaring food, fuel and fertiliser prices have exacerbated the problem, the organisation said.

Food prices rose 52 per cent between 2007 and 2008, and fertiliser prices have nearly doubled over the past year.

According to Fowler, crop diversity is the raw material needed for improving and adapting food crops to harsher climate conditions and constantly evolving pests and diseases. However, he said, it is disappearing from many of the places where it has been placed for safekeeping the world's genebanks.

"Our crops must produce more food, on the same amount of land, with less water, and more expensive energy," Fowler said. "This, on top of climate change, poses an unprecedented challenge to farming. There is no possible scenario in which we can continue to grow the food we require without crop diversity."

Through a competitive grants scheme, Fowler said, the trust will provide funding for projects that screen developing country collections including wheat, chickpea, rice, barley, lentils, coconut, banana, maize, and sweet potato for traits that will be essential for breeding climate-ready varieties.

These projects involve 21 agricultural research institutions in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Israel, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Syria.

Grand Island Independent