Agrobiodiversity to address food security, climate change and trade

Transcription

1 Agrobiodiversity to address food security, climate change and trade Richard Markham Research Program Manager, Pacific Crops Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

2 Challenges facing agriculture and forestry in the Pacific Islands Increase production and productivity For economic development To correct trade imbalances For improved health and nutrition In the face of major constraints Uncertainties of climate change Difficult trading conditions... small markets, weak infrastructure, high costs Land availability Fragile natural resource base

3 What is agrobiodiversity? Crop diversity In the landscape In the cropping system Within the main crop species Crop-associated diversity Pollinators and their alternate food sources Biological control agents and their refuges Nutrient recyclers Species reducing erosion... Both kinds can be managed for sustainability

4 Why do we lose agrobiodiversity? Intentionally or through neglect? Search for higher productivity Grow only the highest yielding variety Optimize conditions for one variety Mechanization of production and post-harvest Powerful interests vested in one variety Market forces and consumer expectations Substitution of purchased inputs for ecosystem services easier to manage?

5 A finely tuned system - banana 99% of world trade and 35% of world production based on one variety Cavendish Highly efficient production system and finely tuned postharvest handling... Deliver uniform, unblemished fruit, at very low price, to consumers

6 What goes wrong? Disease outbreaks Panama disease Wiped out Gros Michel Now eroding Cavendish in Asia Black Sigatoka Spraying 40% production costs Dependence on chemicals and technology Lack of resilience

7 What goes wrong... in the Pacific? Example of taro in Samoa Plenty of diversity available Market preference for one variety? Advent of taro blight

8 What goes wrong... in the Pacific? Example of taro Plenty of diversity available Market preference for one variety? Advent of taro blight Germplasm collections and breeding program have provided foundation for a solution

9 What goes wrong... in the Pacific? Example of potato in Papua New Guinea Preference for one variety Sequoia Susceptible to Potato late blight Total dependence on fungicides Exclusion of small-scale producers

10 What goes wrong... in the Pacific? Example of potato Preference for one variety Sequoia Susceptible to Potato late blight Total dependence on fungicides Exclusion of small-scale producers Farmer-preferred, blightresistant varieties are available Resistance to introduction

11 What goes wrong... in the Pacific? Example of ginger in Fiji Incautious intensification Nematode build-up Pythium outbreaks These are just symptoms of declining soil health and fertility Failure of ecosystem services We can re-build soil health Can we compete with China?

12 How can we use agrobiodiversity to meet these challenges? Managing crop diversity and crop-associated diversity For improved outcomes in trade and food security (including human health) In the face of climate change and a fragile natural resources base Within prevailing economic conditions Is there a trade off between diversity and productivity and/or profitability? Are there win-win situations?

13 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes diversity-friendly land-use planning The rights crops in the right places (altitude, rainfall,...) but noting the impact of technology (irrigation?) Protection of watersheds Economic pressures and opportunities vs. Social and ecological needs biofuels, carbon trading, food... Interactions among land uses managed natural forest compatible with water extraction..

14 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes access to well-adapted planting materials Support for conservation, characterization and use of diverse genetic resources e.g. SPC-CePaCT + enhanced use Local breeding programs? Increased international collaboration e.g. WorldVeg Seed systems for ensuring access to appropriate materials e.g. hybrids or OPV

15 Trade-off between diversity and productivity? Example of sweetpotato in Vanuatu Sweetpotato normally propagated and distributed as cuttings (or tissue culture) Allows the most productive clones to be rapidly multiplied and distributed Some evidence that market forces and new cultivars may encourage farmers to focus on fewer varieties e.g. Beauregard in PNG Root crop breeder in Vanuatu has instead started to distribute sweetpotato seeds Farmers need to be trained to grow them Diversity is in fields, ready for climate change

16 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes fruit and vegetable diversity for health Non-communicable diseases associated with poor diet devastating effect in Pacific White rice, wheat flour; processed foods with high sugar and salt Not enough Vitamin A, Iron, Zinc

17 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes fruit and vegetable diversity for health Beauregard is high-carotenoid orange-flesh-sweetpotato Numerous local cultivars have favourable characteristics in roots and in stems Pacific Food Summit has endorsed go local approach Plantain and sweetpotato can extend to leafy vegetables Need to characterize cultivars and educate consumers

18 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes assuring continuous innovation and cooperation Not enough for a project to introduce a single variety or handful of varieties Need a system that can handle a pipeline of new varieties to cope which changing needs Formal system of evaluation and approval? Can impede deployment of useful diversity Need to go beyond agronomic evaluation Inter-sector approach to evaluating processing characteristics, nutritional characteristics, and input to promotion and education...

19 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes assuring resilience for plantation forestry As in agriculture, selection has tended to focus on productivity In preparation for climate stresses should seek provenances from extremes of range e.g. mahogany from Africa before diversity is lost Evaluation technically difficult, breeding and deployment are long-term challenges Even greater challenge in time and resources than for food crops Further work to do on optimization of production systems, processing etc. Agroforestry to combine short- and long-term returns

20 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes example of speciality cocoa in Samoa Cocoa is a relatively high-value commodity Can Pacific islands compete in ordinary cocoa market? (PNG and Solomon Islands) Vanuatu is adding value through organic certification Samoa has opportunity to exploit diversity of fine-flavour traditional cultivars that have survived for Koko Samoa production

21 Using agrobiodiversity for positive outcomes small volumes, high quality, diverse products Need to be realistic in seeking alternatives to monocrops - sugar (Fiji), squash (Tonga), copra (numerous islands)... Where do Pacific Islands have competitive advantage? Use diversity of native species to develop new products for niche markets e.g. forest nuts, oils, timbers...

22 Propositions No easy answers - will need creativity, ingenuity, formal research and investment over an extended period Genuinely complex challenges in seeking to manage biodiversity for positive outcomes (social, economic and ecological) Requires a multi-disciplinary, inter-sectoral approach in an environment where human and financial resources are already scarce Use smart approaches modelling, GIS... learn from successes and failures elsewhere Collaborate: use shared resources - SPC

23 Propositions Don t take ecosystem services for granted For US agriculture valued at: Biological control US$121 bn Pollination US$117 bn Erosion control US$113 bn Pacific Island ecosystems are fragile, impacted, but mostly still functioning Let s not lose this advantage in our search for intensification of agriculture and forestry

24 Thank you!