Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (2009) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 5-22
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From page 5... ...
To complement those investments, these organizations are seeking ways to improve crop and animal production, whose yields are far below world averages and too low to support the expanding population in the regions. Whereas much of the developed world takes its food supply for granted, a systematic effort over several decades will be needed to boost agricultural yields in SSA and SA to levels that will eliminate chronic food shortages and support steady economic growth.
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From page 6... ...
The goal of the study was to find innovations with the potential to transform food production in the two regions. Eleven experts in the agricultural sciences, including some specifically familiar with the agricultural constraints facing farmers in SSA and SA, were appointed to the study committee and tasked with identifying priorities for technologies that, if developed, might substantially boost agricultural production and favorably affect the lives of poor farmers in SSA and SA.
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From page 7... ...
Agricultural production is a complex system, and agricultural technologies are interdependent. For example, although elite, locally adapted germplasm is essential for optimal yield potential, the value of such seed is substantially diminished when it is planted in poor-quality soil that is infested with weeds that harbor insect-borne viruses that infect the crop and limit its yield.
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As in industrialized countries, building a science base can be achieved through multiple approaches, such as the establishment of the equivalent of the U.S. land-grant institutions that integrate research, teaching, and extension; creating special incentives to engage the world's top-tier scientists as research leaders; and giving outstanding students in the region both the opportunity to learn abroad and the resources to conduct research on returning home.
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In part, that is because existing models and forecasting tools for determining weather conditions in those regions are underdeveloped. If climate change creates more erratic weather conditions, it will be even more important to provide farmers with forecasts of the onset of the rainy season, the prospect of severe weather events, and the likelihood of droughts.
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RECOMMENDATIONS Priority Technologies for Development and Exploration The technologies that have the greatest potential impact on agricultural production in SSA and SA are the ones that address four major components
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Such applications, which will have a high payoff for farmers in the regions, can be built on technological platforms and knowledge that have, in most cases, proved to be effective, but building them will be a unique and challenging endeavor. Tier II technologies include ideas that are emerging from advances in biology, chemistry, materials, remote sensing, and energy science that have TABLE S-1 Priority Technologies and Applications for Improving Agriculture Tier II Focus of Tier I High Priority for Technology High Priority for Development Additional Exploration Natural • Soil management techniques • Soil-related nanomaterials Resources • Integrated water management • Manipulation of the rhizosphere Management • Climate and weather prediction • Remote sensing of plant physiology Improving • Annotated crop genomes • Site-specific gene integration Genetics of Crops • Genome-based animal breeding • Spermatogonial stem cell and Animals transplantation • Microbial genomics of the rumen Overcoming • Plant-mediated gene silencing Biotic Constraints • Biocontrol and biopesticides • Disease-suppressive soils • Animal vaccines Energy • Solar energy technologies Production • Photosynthetic microbe-based biofuels • Energy storage technology
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From page 12... ...
Soil management and water management are integrative technologies -- they require multiple methods determined for a particular site. Tier I Technologies Soil management techniques. The physical structure of many soils in SSA and SA is less than ideal for agriculture, and poor agricultural practices (overgrazing, deforestation, intensive row cropping, and removal of crop residue)
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Water management technologies include tube wells, on-site storage tanks, and effective irrigation methods. The efficiency of traditional surface irrigation (flood and furrow)
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To develop those strategies as technologies, it is imperative to have a better basic understanding of microbial ecology in major crop systems of SSA and SA. Remote sensing of plant physiological status. Optical sensing of plant physiological characteristics is an emerging tool for nutrient management and for determining the state of plant health and growth.
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Tier I Technologies Annotated plant genomes. High-quality annotated reference sequences do not exist for the genomes of many of the crops that are important to farmers in SSA and SA, but given the advances in the rate of DNA sequencing, some of these sequences could be built very quickly by using the existing Arabidopsis, rice, and sorghum genomes and the emerging maize genome sequence. That information will speed crop improvement, particularly if plant breeders in SSA and SA are given the sequencing tools to explore variability in local germplasm.
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Spermatogonial stem cell transplantation. Spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) transplantation is a way of distributing superior germplasm widely; because resources are inadequate and refrigeration requirements are difficult to meet, this capability does not now exist in developing countries.
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Africa has seen some of the most successful examples of classical biological control because the insects introduced to control an invading species have not been exposed to pesticides, given the low application rates commonly used by subsistence farmers. Biopesticides that make use of the toxins that some organisms (such as fungi)
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Animal vaccines. Estimates of losses due to disease in SSA and SA are not well quantified, although one estimate of the annual economic loss due to animal diseases in SSA is around US$40 billion, or 25 percent of the total value of livestock production. There are constraints on the use of existing vaccines, but the control of brucellosis, leptospirosis, bovine virus diarrhea, and other respiratory and intestinal diseases in young, preweaning animals could reduce mortality and improve long-term productivity.
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From page 19... ...
PV cells are already sold in SSA and SA; expanding existing markets and capturing innovations for rural applications would allow these regions to be at the forefront of technology adoption. Concentrating solar power uses mirrors to convert the sun's energy into high-temperature heat and thus has particular relevance to arid and semiarid regions.
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20 Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers BOX S-2 Technologies Examined in the Study • Annotated sequences of crop and model species for comparative genomics • DNA marker development • Mutation breeding and mutant analysis • Rapid sequencing and annotation of crops of SSA and SA • Information technology and computational biology • Proteomics • Systems biology • Analysis of gene-trait associations • Hyperspectral imaging and digital capture • Bt toxin • Herbicide resistance • Engineering transgenes in metabolic pathways • Plant-based gene silencing • S ite-specific gene insertion systems -- zinc fingers, other nucleases, site-specific recombination systems • Meiotic recombination • Artificial chromosomes • Apomixis • Bt alternatives • Transgenic sentinels of plant physiology • Chemical-induced switching • Classical biological control • Biopesticides • Genetically engineered biocontrol -- suicide-inducing genes • On-farm integrated water management • Water storage • Wastewater reclamation • Desalination • Cloud seeding batteries in the developing world would be a major step toward providing power for small-scale agriculture. CONCLUSION Together with improvements in the structure of agricultural markets, the use of scientific knowledge and technology to increase agricultural
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energy • Energy storage (supercapacitors) • Hydrogen and fuel cells • Biofuels (cellulosic, halophytes, oilseeds, photosynthetic microorganisms)
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From page 22... ...
The potential of new scientific capabilities to address agricultural constraints in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia is substantial, provided that they will be pursued with the specific problems of farmers in these regions in mind. Scientists from all backgrounds have an opportunity to become involved in bringing the 60 technologies described in this report (see Box S-2)
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