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Tuesday 15 April 2008 (Updated Fri 18 April 2008)

RAPID ROUNDUP: Global agricultural assessment - Experts comment

A long awaited report from the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) was released on Tuesday 15 April at 9.30pm AEST simultaneously in London, Washington and Paris. According to the press advisory, the report suggests that modern agriculture will have to change radically if the world is to avoid social breakdown and environmental collapse. The Australian Government has noted the report but has some reservations.

A copy of the final Report is now available on the www.agassessment.org website along with a podcast of the London briefing.

A number of Australian scientists are available for media interviews to comment on the Report. If you wish to speak to an expert, don’t hesitate to contact the AusSMC on (08) 8207 7415.

What follows is the text of the Australian reservations being lodged with the IAASTD Secretariat (source: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)):

“Australia recognizes the IAASTD initiative and reports as a timely and important multistake holder and multidisciplinary exercise designed to assess and enhance the role of AKST in meeting the global development challenges. The wide range of observations and views presented however, are such that Australia cannot agree with all assertions and options in the report. The report is therefore noted as a useful contribution which will be used for considering the future priorities and scope of AKST in securing economic growth and the alleviation of hunger and poverty”.

"Some talking points on our position are as follows:

• Australia has been very supportive of the IAASTD process, having been a sponsor and active participant since the initiative began. We see it as an important tool in addressing global development challenges.
• Australia recognises and supports IAASTD’s multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach to understanding the role of agricultural knowledge, science and technology.
• Australia regards the central message coming out of IAASTD as a critical one – the benefits of productivity increases are being shared unevenly, and modern agricultural practices do not pay sufficient attention to the environment.
• The importance of sustainable resource management and sharing of productivity gains is a cornerstone of the Australian agricultural research and development agenda, at home and internationally.
• The outcomes of IAASTD also reflect the important role of agricultural knowledge, science and technology in reducing global poverty and hunger, as well as meeting economic development and sustainability goals in the developing world.
• In addition to the focus on broader trade and economic development, Australia continues to support the role of science and technology to benefit both small producers and low-income consumers in developing countries.
• Australia has actively contributed to this cause over many years and will continue to do so. This is particularly important given the current focus on food prices and the need to ensure food security.
• IAASTD will undoubtedly help to progress the means by which smallholders in developing countries can be assisted to raise productivity and market potential through the transfer and adoption of well-researched production systems and technologies.
• Given the number and range of stakeholders involved, and issues addressed, it is not surprising that a range of conflicting views and ambiguities have emerged on some important issues.
• It is important to note that IAASTD is not a negotiating forum but is purely an assessment of the role of agricultural knowledge, science and technology in development.

Although Australia is very supportive of the IAASTD initiative and has agreed the final plenary statement, we cannot "fully support" all the assertions and observations in the reports. However, we believe the reports will be extremely useful resources."

Professor David Kemp is Professor of Farming Systems at Charles Sturt University and the University of Sydney.

“I am glad that the Australian Government is supporting the main thrust of the report.

The world has been failing to lift people out of poverty and the general tenor of this report that solutions will come from much closer work with poor farmers on the ground, understanding their problems and their systems and then seeking cost-effective solutions is appropriate. The Australian Government is to be encouraged to expand that work and to use Australian expertise to help solve those vital issues.

There is the dilemma in the report’s conclusions that organic farming is the way to go and there is little evidence that will feed the increasing human population. A more ecological approach is justified, but that won’t work in every case. Some areas will arguably need to be farmed intensively if people are to be adequately fed.

The Australian Government does need though to pursue trade negotiations with the poorer developing nations that acknowledge the specific problems they have and that they are not capable to instantly competing against aggressive multi-national companies. “

Dr John Williams is Commissioner of the NSW Natural Resources Commission (NRC), a Commissioner to The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

“I think the report is long overdue. It is a complex report with many facets that are seen as controversial by less progressive elements of agricultural science. It’s been a difficult task to get agricultural science to recognise that we can’t just focus on agricultural research that deals with production alone. We must look at the ecological, energy and water systems as a whole to appreciate the impacts or the footprint that our food has on our natural resource base. That’s the substance of what the International report is saying. The report highlights the huge problem we have in finding ways to produce sufficient food for a rapidly growing population while at the same time halting the damage and increasing pressure on our natural resources-our soils, our water and our biodiversity.

'How are we going to do that?' is the question that the papers pose. It’s a question that must be faced by us all, and certainly must be faced by agricultural science. In the past, too much of our research, in my judgment, has been focussing on technical fixes to the production arm without giving adequate attention to the natural resource impacts and impacts within the whole agricultural ecosystem.

What we’ve been doing is exporting the footprint of agriculture to the environment without recognising that we need to reduce greatly that footprint but at the same time increase our productivity and improve its equitable distribution.

Producing our foods and ensuring that we also reduce the number of people who are malnourished in light of all the environmental pressures that must also be managed is a huge challenge that we need to face.”

Dr Eric Craswell is a Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. He was previously Senior Academic Advisor to the United Nations Institute for Environment and Human Security, Executive Officer of the Global Water System Project (GWSP), and has worked with the International Fertilizer Development Center, International Rice Research Institute, Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

“Aid programs are now starting to recognise the importance of agriculture in dealing with the urgency of still having 850 million undernourished people in the world. Food prices are increasing and fertiliser prices went up 200% in 2007 due to the rising cost of oil. So there are some serious problems to overcome and we sometimes lose the long term perspective that the world’s population will continue to grow for at least the next few decades and so an increasing food supply is needed.

I think this is a very important report that Australia should take very seriously. Australia has arguably the best suite of expertise in terms of tropical agricultural research of any developed country. So there’s an opportunity for Australia to latch on to this report and put Australia’s efforts to help developing countries squarely behind it. The positive thing is that the report has drawn together the ideas of scientists and non government organisations in a uniquely positive way, especially in relation to the link between agriculture and the environment.

The negative side of the report is how it deals with some of the issues like trade and biotechnology. With the urgency of food production problems we can’t afford to be so picky about some of these issues. Why should developing country farmers be denied the opportunities of modern science in biotechnology, fertilisers and so on?”