BEIJING: The world needs to invest more in agricultural know-how to bolster food yield, curb rural poverty and combat climate change, according to a consensus reached by a global panel of farming technology leaders on Thursday.
Technological innovation is the crucial driver for transforming the global agri-food systems, according to the Sanya Declaration of the 7th Global Forum of Leaders for Agricultural Science and Technology.
Progress in the area plays a pivotal role in enhancing the world’s agricultural production capacity, revolutionizing agricultural sectors, and promoting rural development, the declaration said.
Experts attending the forum called upon governments — especially those in developing countries and possibly facing dire food supply issues — and agricultural enterprises worldwide to step up funding for agricultural research and technology dissemination, such as by training more talent.
They pledged to work more closely in agricultural science and technology, with the aim of helping reform agri-food systems and addressing global challenges ranging from food insecurity to poverty to climate disasters, and help achieve the goals of the China-proposed Global Development Initiative.
“Efforts should be made to turn global agri-food systems toward being more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, through enhancing green agricultural technological innovation, climate change adaptation, carbon sequestration and emission reduction in agriculture, and reducing food losses and waste across the entire production chain,” the declaration said, adding such expertise is the underlying pillar for achieving “energy-efficient, emission-reducing, green and low-carbon sustainable agricultural development”.
Participants lauded the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the forum’s organizer, for launching the International Mega Science Project from Genotype to Phenotype Initiative, which helps with the sharing of crop genetic resources and offers public products and platforms for molecular breeding. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
