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Dr. Addeke Boerma, Director Gen–
eral of the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization, emphasizes
that "malnutrition is mainly a problem
of povcrty.
It
will not be solved with–
out looking at
social conditiom."
One of these condit ions is war, the
great disrupter of agriculture. Soldiers
battling enemy troops have little time
to avoid fields of "miracle" wheat.
Killing the enemy aod winoing the
war usually takes precedence over sav–
ing a paddy of rice, whatever its yield.
Lasting peace, then, is a prerequisite
for continua! food production.
Gradual urbanization is another
drawback to feeding people in under–
developed nations. Proper food dis–
tribution is badly needed, but cannot
be implemented in those countries
whece people move to cities at three
times the rate of overall population
growth. Food distribution which is
already inadequate breaks down fur–
ther.
When faced with this monumental
problem of feeding the world's popu–
lation, one could easily fall into des–
pair. Yet despair will not solve thc
problem
!
What is needed is a wholc
new approach to the world prob-
lem of agriculture and nutnhon.
A fundamental approach is to begin
where the "green revolution" began
- with the growing of crops. This is,
of course, to take a fundamental look
at agriculture itself.
The word agriculture mcans, liter–
ally, field (Latín
ager)
cultivation
(Latín
wltttra).
As a science, agrícul–
ture (or field cultivation) has not
reached perfection. A fundamental set
of agricultura! principies is needed.
lt's time we considered how to avoid
the faults and dangers inherent in
"green revolution" technology. These
principies must involve, first of all, a
true understanding of
biological laws.
Getting at the Root
of the Problem
We must remember, even during
the rush to stave off famine by devel–
oping high-yield grains and powerful
fertilizers, pesticides and machinery,
that agriculture is still basically a
biological process,
not a tcchnological
one.
High production may stem from
technology. But the plants themselves
stem from the soil, from a living sub–
stance. This apparent oversimplilica-
tion is nevertheless a profound truth.
Plants depend on the delicate,
highly interrelated life support systems
found 1n biological communities.
These have not yet been fully under–
stood by man. Agriculture, as prac–
ticed, is sti JI often focused on an
artificial
plant andjor animal com–
munity.
Man must work within aod not
violate these fundamental biological
laws.
It
means the recognition and
application of thc biological facts of
life. Tenets which don't fit bio–
logical principies are ultimately self–
destructivc.
Diversity- the Key
to Stability
"Diversity provides stability
10
biological systcms, a resistaoce to
biological and environmental catas–
trophes or upsets," writes Dr. Richard
J.
Vogl, Professor of Botany at Cali–
fornia State College, Los Angeles. By
contrast, "monocultures lead to ecolog–
ical complications"
(Ecology Today,
May, 1971).
Monocultures are single crops plant–
ed over large acreages, the opposite of
diversity. Monoculture is the basis of