Podsylam panstwu dosc nowa rzecz, przeprazam ze po angielsku, ale nie mam
czasu na tlumaczenie.
RomanK
THE GREENER REVOLUTION
February 3, 2001
New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/editorial/editorial_227629.html
It sounds, according to this editorial, like an environmentalist's
dream. Low-tech "sustainable agriculture," shunning chemicals in
favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop
yields on poor farms across the world, often by 70 per cent or more.
But, the story says, it's no dream, and is in fact the claim being
made in the biggest ever survey of green-minded farming. The
findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only
genetically modified crops can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century.
The gains are greatest among poor farmers. This is not surprising. The
high-tech green revolution that has doubled global food production in
little more than a generation was always designed for big mechanised
farms on the best land, using capital to buy pesticides and
fertilisers the new high-yielding plant varieties need. It was never a
blueprint for working the poorer land, or helping illiterate farmers
with plenty of labour and ingenuity but little capital.
Yet over the past 30 years, these farmers have been pushed into
half-heartedly adopting this revolution. While some have gained, this
hand-me-down technology has not served them well.
The survey shows there is a better way. A new science-based revolution
is gaining strength built on real research into what works best on the
small farms where a billion or more of the world's hungry live and work.
For some, talk of "sustainable agriculture" sounds like a luxury the
poor can ill afford. But in truth it is good science, addressing real
needs and delivering real results. For too long it has been the preserve
of environmentalists and a few aid charities. It is time for the major
agricultural research centres and their funding agencies to join the
revolution.
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