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Farming practices 'must change' UN calls for farming revolution
(about 5 hours later)
A United Nations-sponsored report has warned that modern farming practices and rules must change in response to rising food prices. A UN-sponsored report has called for urgent changes to the way food is produced, as soaring food prices risk driving millions of people to poverty.
"Business as usual is no longer an option", says the report, as extra food costs threaten to plunge millions more people into poverty. The Unesco study recommends better safeguards to protect resources and more sustainable farming practices, such as producing food locally.
The study, published by Unesco in Paris, calls for more emphasis on protecting natural resources.
More natural and ecological farming techniques should be used, it says.More natural and ecological farming techniques should be used, it says.
These should include reducing the distance between production and the consumer. Haiti, Egypt, the Philippines and parts of West Africa have seen riots recently over the costs of rice, wheat and soya.
The report is the result of three years of work involving scientists and other experts, as well as governments of developed and developing countries. Unesco, a UN educational body, says increased demand for food in India and China, the growing market for biofuel crops, and rising oil prices are some of the factors behind the rising prices.
The authors conclude that progress in agriculture has reaped very unequal benefits - and that it has come at a high social and environmental cost. class="" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/15_04_08_sr_exec_sum_130408_final.pdf">Executive summary of the IAASTD report [144KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html">Download the reader here
Unesco notes the ''considerable influence'' of big transnational corporations in North America and Europe. A group of 400 experts spent three years researching the report, which was unveiled on Tuesday at Unesco in Paris.
'Urgent action' The authors found:
By contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean are largely dependent on imported food.
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  • Progress in agriculture has reaped very unequal benefits and has come at a high social and environmental cost
  • Food producers should try using "natural processes" like crop rotation and use of organic fertilisers
  • The distance between the produce and consumer should also be reduced
The UN body describes the need for action as urgent, warning that staple food prices are likely to continue to rise because of increased demand from countries like China and India, and the alternative use of maize and soya beans for biofuels. The BBC's Nick Miles says that with food prices at the top of the international political agenda, this is effectively a blueprint for the future of global agriculture.
The report says more than a third of the world's most deteriorated land has been caused by farming. Unesco says wheat prices have risen 130% percent since March 2007 while soy prices have jumped 87%.
France has called for more European help for poorer countries, and for farmers worldwide to raise their output. "The status quo is no longer an option," Guilhem Calvo, a Unesco expert, told a news conference in Paris.
But it is resisting pressure to ease support for EU farmers, saying Europe must remain a major producing continent. "We must develop agriculture less dependent on fossil fuels, that favours the use of locally available resources."
'Alleviate hunger'
The report said rising oil prices had made transport and farm production more expensive and had led to more crops being grown to make biofuels for vehicles.
It said biofuel production had mixed effects, adding: "The diversion of agricultural crops to fuel can raise food prices and reduce our ability to alleviate hunger throughout the world."
It also warned large swaths of central and western Asia and Africa were running out of water.
Farming was responsible for more than a third of the world's most degraded land, it said.
Unesco noted the ''considerable influence'' of big transnational corporations in North America and Europe.
By contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean are largely dependent on imported food, it said.
Over the weekend the World Bank outlined a plan of aid and loans to developing nations to help deal with the problem.