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p. 305-313: With Asia having some of the fastest-growing economies with over 60% of the world’s population, 34% of the world’s arable land, and 36% of the world’s water resources, the region’s need to overcome formidable challenges and improve its total agricultural production and agricultural productivity are urgent...
Feeding and nourishing a larger, more urban, and increasingly affluent Asian population sustainably and equitably will be an unprecedented challenge in the coming years. It will require a more holistic approach to address agricultural production an
d productivity more effectively.
Increasing production of food, feed, and fiber through the use of modern biosciences and biotechnology is only one among many strategies needed to meet this challenge. Access to modern science and technology will need to be supported by more comprehensive policies on investment, regulations, and education. In addition, while rural areas currently hold most of the world’s poor and hungry, and will continue to do so for many years to come, the urban areas of Asia will require more attention and distinct focus from national governments...
Increasing productivity is a development imperative, whether urban or rural, if more agricultural production is to be achieved with reduced arable land, labor, and water in Asia. And therein lies the huge potential for biotechnology as a “green” technology.
Via Alexander J. Stein, Phillip Trotter
Having grown up in a northumberland mining village in the north east of England, surrounded by farming and small woodlands - agriculture is something i think of intimately interwound with industry and how we live. If you grew up in a city - it can seem distant, but its always fundamental. If you grew up around farms - you know they are places of high and low tech. Strains and breeds are early forms of bio-engineering, agricultural equipment gives access to pragmatic engineering principles early on. In the coming decades advanced in bioengineering and biotech will increasingly be larger components of modern agriculture in order to meet increasing population pressures and demands generated by increased urban living. This report clearly helps identify the opportunities and possibilities and policy requirements that exist. If you are tracking the technology aspects of modern agriculture or interested in how agriculture will ahve to change to address increasing social needs - this report is well worth reading.