Many farmers in rural areas do not have the most up-to-date information on how to grow food efficiently and economically. Improving their knowledge of new techniques and technologies, in addition to providing them with any physical resources necessary for implementation, can dramatically increase the farmers’ level of productivity (Rosegrant & Cline, 2003).
Of course, increased productivity for a few years is not a solution if farming cannot be sustained for the next hundred years. Recognizing the need for a sustainable approach to agriculture, our solution emphasizes farmer education in methods and technologies that do not have an overly negative effect on soil, water, and air quality.
Farmer education programs will:
- increase local food availability
- increase farmer income
- increase sustainability of agricultural practices
Increasing local food availability directly addresses hunger problems that arise when food is not available for people to buy. In rural areas where connections to more productive areas are limited, people depend on food grown by farmers in their own region: if the farmers can’t grow enough food, people go hungry. Improved crop yields can both meet the demand of the region (which could be just a few villages) and lower the price of food in that region. Lower food prices mean more people can afford to buy the food, and less people go hungry.
Approximately 50% of the world’s undernourished population is made up of low-income farm households (Shaw, p.395). So, a top priority in addressing hunger problems is to decrease poverty levels among these farmers, and increase their productivity so they can feed themselves and their families. Because the farmers are the price setters, any lowering of prices due to increased productivity should not affect them negatively.
Increasing the sustainability of agricultural practices will ensure food security in years to come by preserving and rehabilitating the resources used to produce food, including soil and water.
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