Researches

Efficient use of external inputs and water conservation are a prerequisite of sustainable agricultural productivity in semiaridWest Africa. A field experiment was carried out during 3 years (2000–2002) at Saria in semiarid Burkina Faso (800 mm of annual rainfall, PETof 2000 mm per year) to assess the effects of stone rows or grass strips of Andropogon gayanus Kunth cv. Bisquamulatus (Hochst. Hack ) as soil and water conservation (SWC) measures, the sole application of an organic (compost-N)or mineral (urea-N) nitrogen and the combined use of SWC and compost-N or urea-N on N flows and balances. The trial was conducted on a Ferric Lixisol with 1.5% slope and comprised nine treatments in two replications. The SWC measures were put along contours lines. During the three consecutive years, all treatments induced negative annual N balances (75 to 24 kg N ha). The main factors explaining these negative balances were N exports by sorghum biomass and soil erosion-induced N losses. Large amounts of N (7 kg N ha per year in 2000 and 44 kg N ha per year in 2002) were lost in the control treatment through runoff and eroded sediments, which corresponds respectively to about 10 and 43% of the total outflow of N. Sole stone rows and grass strips reduced erosion N losses to 8 and 12%, respectively, of the total annual loss. The combined application of SWC measures and nutrients inputs reduced erosion N losses to only 2–7% of the annual N loss. The application of urea-N or compost-N led to the lowest soil N mining over the 3 years, whereas the highest N mining was observed in plots without added N.

The challenges of sustainable food production without damaging the environment for a growing human population have increased considerably. The current agricultural practices involving chemical fertilizers and even organic farming are not sustainable in the long run and can have deleterious effects on the environment. Thus, new, innovative solutions need to be identified and propagated for tackling this. Among such innovations, that can complement conventional as well as organic farming methods, are genetic modification (GM) and aquaculture. Yet, GM technologies often face resistance from civil groups owing to an 'unknown' fear, akin to Frankenstein's monster. How real is this fear? Our discussion rests on basic questions like, why can't 'organics' include GM crops that do not require chemical inputs for cultivation, and can GM crops like Golden rice qualify to be 'organic' if cultivated through organic practices? Do we need to rethink organic agriculture in the context of the present and future challenges of 21st century?

Biotechnological intervention in the development of crops has opened new vistas in agriculture. Central to the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), biotech-agriculture is essential in meeting these targets. Biotech crops have already made modest contributions toward ensuring food and nutrition security by reducing losses and increasing productivity, with less pesticide input. These crops could help address some of the major challenges in agriculture-based economies created by climate change. Projections of global climate change expect the concentration of greenhouse gases to increase, aridization of the environment to increase, temperature fluctuations to occur sharply and frequently, and spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall to be disturbed—all of which will increase abiotic stress-related challenges to crops. Countering these challenges and to meet the food requirement of the ever-increasing world population (expected to reach 9 billion by 2030) we need to (1) develop and use biotech crops for mitigating adverse climatic changes; (2) develop biotech crops resilient to adverse environmental conditions; and (3) address the issues/non-issues raised by NGO’s and educate the masses about the benefits of biotech crops.