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Agricultural resilience -- what do we know and what do we need to know Sir Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development Agriculture for Impact, Imperial College, London European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels, March 4, 2013
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Rising sea and land temperatures Three Drivers: Tropical convection The Monsoons El Niño – La Niña Oscillation
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http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/MEI/ El Niño La Niña
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Gradual build-up of adverse events Pest and disease attack Land degradation Growing pollution Increasing temperatures Rising sea levels Greater or lesser rainfall Growing indebtedness
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UNDP Human Development Report, 2006
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Average Annual Max Temp > 30 0 C By 2050 Ericksen et al Mapping hotspots of climate change and food insecurity in the global tropics
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Usually dramatic, largely unexpected events Locust outbreaks Disease outbreaks Sudden floods Major drought Cyclones Earthquakes Tsunamis Financial collapse
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Hansen et al, 2012, NASA
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Russia Severe heatwave in 2010 Doubled Moscow’s death rate 30% of grain crops lost to burning Pakistan Worst floods in 80 years Killed over 1600 people Submerged 1/5th of the country, including 14% of Pakistan’s cultivated land
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Increased yields or production On the same amount of land With less water Less fertilisers Less pesticides Lower emissions of Greenhouse Gases Increased natural capital and environmental services Greater resilience
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Use ecological principles to design agricultural practices e.g. Agroforestry Integrated Pest Management Organic farming
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Plants more nutritious carbohydrate and protein micronutrients (Vit A, iron, zinc) Plants more resilient to pests and diseases climate change Plants more efficient at converting sunlight to food taking up nitrogen from the atmosphere using water
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$500 million losses a year in Uganda Academia Sinica provided sweet potato gene Successfully transferred to bananas In Ugandan field trials Entirely government funded
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Genes from Bacterial RNA that help to repair misfolded proteins resulting from stress Plants rapidly recover No yield penalty when stress free In African field trials
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Model of Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA ) Rural Economy Farm Household in the local community Seed Co Agrodealer Fertiliser Co Banks for microcredit Local trader Connectivity Regional trade National trade
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Increasingly frequent and severe droughts, floods, and storms Fertile lowlands good crops but can be destroyed during flood Highlands good crops of maize and cassava during flood years, but less productive otherwise http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/research/landscape/projects/adaptiv... Eduardo Mondlane
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Conway, G. ‘One Billion Hungry: Can we feed the world?’www.canwefeedtheworld.org Follow us on twitter: #1billionhungry For more info on Ag4Impact, go to: www.ag4impact.org Contact: g.conway@imperial.ac.uk Thank You
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