NaijaAgroNet:
The Food and Agriculture Organisaion
(FAO) Director-General, Graziano da Silva, has called for a paradigm shift towards
agriculture and food systems that are more adapted to climate change, if the Sustainable
Development Agenda (SDA) by 2030 will be achieved, NaijaAgroNet reports.
"We can end extreme poverty and
hunger by 2030. We know what works and we have the tools for it, but we know
climate change threatens to derail our efforts. It is already impacting on food
security and making hunger eradication even more difficult.
"We believe that agriculture in
the broad sense - including forestry, fisheries and aquaculture - can and must
play a central role in addressing climate change, particularly in adapting its
impacts, such as water scarcity, soil salinity or increasing pests and diseases
of plants and animals," he added.
On
his part, the French
Minister for Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, said
that every man and woman on the planet would bear the consequences "if the
world's leaders cannot find agreement on tangible and concrete objectives"
to curb global warming, NaijaAgroNet
learnt.
Noting that agriculture is often
viewed as a problem due to its role in greenhouse-gas emissions, Le Foll called
for the need to make progress with techniques that "allow us to be more
economical and consume less energy."
"But anyone who looks at
agriculture cannot just sit back and sort out the problem with scientific
measures...because the technology must be combined with the social
aspect," Le Foll said, adding: "We need to revise our agriculture
model to adapt to each ecosystem, we need a revolution that is going to use
natural mechanisms to benefit production."
Graziano da Silva and Le Foll made
their appeals at a side event of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
which is meeting in Rome this week. They both urged countries to find an
agreement on how to combat climate change ahead of the 7-8 December United
Nations climate change conference, COP21, in Paris.
Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE/ED,OPs
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
