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Thermal zones (baseline period: 1961-1990) |
The United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) with the partnership of International Institute
for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) recently developed an online data portal
in order to help unlock the planet's potential on food.
The data portal, NaijaAgroNet learnt is named Global
Agro-ecological Zones (GAEZ) Portal and developed in order to assist in
unlocking the planet's potential to feed the rapidly growing population.
The United Nations' agency affirmed
that there is need to increase the global food production to 60 per cent by
2050 as the world population is expected to rise above 9 billion.
FAO revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press statement that
the portal is a planning tool designed specially to help identify areas of
increased global food production while maintaining natural resource base and
facing the challenge of climate change.
FAO identified water scarcity as
one of the limiting factor for area expansion that intensification of food
production occurs within a changing climate, thereby requiring adaptation and
mitigation.
Director of FAO's Land and Water
Division, Parviz Koohafkan said GAEZ would help identify where there are
‘bridgeable yield gaps' and what causes them, allowing for the formulation of
appropriate investment policies with the provision of appropriate support for
farmers to help boost food production.
FAO recent study revealed that
crop production by small farmers can run as low as 30 to 40 per cent of
potential in some areas in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The study also made known that
the Sub-Sahara Africa is the region with the highest yielding gap in cereal.
Africa as a whole also recorded about 1.2 tones of cereal per hectare compared
to an average yield of some 3 tons per hectare in the developing world as a
whole.
The online data seeks to enhance planners' and
decision makers' capacity to estimate agricultural production potentials and
variability under different environmental and management scenarios, including
climatic conditions, management regimes, water availability and levels of
inputs.
Yinka Awosanya/LS
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