Organic Agriculture Can Help in the Fight Against Hunger, But....

The Food and Agriculture Organization  (FAO) of the United Nations  has no reasons to believe that organic farming can substitute for conventional farming systems in assuring the World’s food security, said FAO director general, Jacques Diouf. Diouf made the statement after press releases and media reports suggesting that FAO endorses organic agriculture (OA) as the solution to world hunger.

Diouf pointed out that OA can help in the battle against hunger, as organic farming represents a growing source of income for many countries. But chemical inputs, especially fertilizers, are needed to boost agricultural production in developing countries particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The recent World Development Report by the World Bank stressed that low fertilizer use is one of the key constraints in African agriculture. Diouf cited Malawi as an example. The country, which has been a recipient of food aids for years, has boosted its maize production after adopting a policy of providing small scale farmers with seeds and fertilizers. He also noted that higher productivity with lower inputs can be obtained with systems like Integrated Pest Management and Conservation Agriculture.

The FAO director general concluded that there is no one solution to the problem of world hunger. He enumerated the key factors that will help solve the problem. These include: knowledge and capacity building, increased private and public investments and right policies and technologies.

 Read the FAO press release at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000726/index.html