UN FAO Chief: World Needs 'Paradigm Shift' Towards Sustainable Agriculture

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) Director General José Graziano da Silva is urging support for science-based options to attain global food security. Speaking at the opening of the 24th session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) in Rome, da Silva called for a 'paradigm shift' in global attitudes on agriculture, adding that only by decreasing the amounts of agricultural inputs, such as water and chemicals, could the sector move towards a more sustainable and productive long-term path.

He said that options including agro-ecology, climate-smart agriculture, biotechnology and the use of genetically modified organisms, would help meet the expected demand from an anticipated world population of nine billion by 2050.

According to da Silva, the previous input-intensive model cannot be used anymore as the solutions of the past have shown their limits. "We need to explore these alternatives using an inclusive approach based on science and evidence, not on ideologies," he added.

For more details, read the FAO news release at: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/250148/icode/.