Declining Agricultural Productivity and Global Food Security

Abstract

It is imperative that the world's farmlands become the frontline for the battle to feed the projected 9 billion population globally. The detrimental effects of climate change on food security can be counteracted by broad-based economic development—particularly enhanced agricultural investment for improved land, water, and nutrient use. Improved crop, soil, and water management practices and stress-tolerant varieties that will overcome the detrimental impacts of climate change will lead to benefits like improved food security, livelihoods, and environmental security. Among the agricultural systems at greater risk of climate change are the dryland tropics, where the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has its mandate. ICRISAT's new Strategy to 2020 lays emphasis on inclusive market-oriented development (IMOD) as a pathway out of poverty by linking farmers to markets to increase incomes, enabled through a systems perspective and purposeful partnerships. ICRISAT aims to build resilient dryland systems through its research thrust on reducing vulnerability to drought, heat, and other climate change scenarios. ICRISAT's many major milestones on its climate-responsible path have been its short-duration chickpea varieties that have enabled an expansion of the crop into tropical latitudes in Asia and Africa, sustainable soil management practices such as microdosing, conservation agriculture, and initiatives such as the Sahelian Eco-Farm and knowledge-based and people-centric entry-point activities in its community-based watersheds.