Title:
UN Says Food Production Must Rise; How 'Fertilizer
Trees' Could Help
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
The United Nations estimates that world food
production will have to increase by seventy percent
by twenty-fifty. A world population growing in
number and wealth will require one billion tons more
grain each year, and two hundred million tons more
meat. The Food and Agriculture Organization says
those gains will have to happen largely on existing
land through "sustainable intensification."Officials
say the new report provides the first "global
assessment of the state of the planet's land
resources." It says large parts of all continents
are experiencing damage. One-fourth of all land is
described as "highly degraded." The greatest threats
are losses of soil quality, biodiversity and water
resources. New agricultural methods and technology
increased food production in many countries during
the Green Revolution. Cropland increased by twelve
percent from nineteen sixty-one to two thousand nine
-- yet production grew by one hundred fifty percent.
But the new report warns that production rates have
been slowing in many areas. In too many places, it
says, practices that have increased production have
also harmed the land and water. It calls for greater
use of practices that can expand production while
limiting damage to ecosystems.One such practice is
the use of "fertilizer trees." These are
fast-growing trees and shrubs whose leaves and roots
help improve soil. A recent study found that about
four hundred thousand farmers in southern Africa are
using them. The study appeared in the International
Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. Lead author
Oluyede Ajayi is senior scientist at the World
Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, Kenya. He says,
"Basically these are trees that can fix nitrogen
from the atmosphere and convert them into nitrates
for fertilizer, for organic fertilizer." Farmers who
planted fertilizer trees reported double the maize
production of other farmers. In Zambia, the
fertilized fields provided up to one hundred
fourteen additional days of food.Farmers say they
need less rainwater if they use fertilizer trees.
The trees reduce water runoff and soil erosion. Mr.
Ajayi says the project began about twenty years ago
when scientists were trying to identify the main
threats to food security. The farmers themselves
designed and managed part of the testing in the
field, and spread the word of their successes. For
VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presutti.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
