2
1 Introduction
materials the conservation of genetic resources is becoming increasingly
important.
Increasing production - and more recently stabilizing production at a high level
- have been a question of increasing inputs like fertilizer and pesticides, and
improving management systems, mainly irrigation and crop varieties. Improving
varieties has been seen merely as a function depending on the variables of
allocation of human and financial resources to research and development, i.e.,
breeding. The importance of plant genetic resources derived from local varieties or
from wild relatives of domesticated crops has not been reflected economically,
because the free and unlimited availability of plant genetic resources has been
taken for granted and the small but important input of traditional varieties or wild
crop relatives was often neglected in breeding programs.
Breeding - and therewith PGRFA, as a small but essential input for breeding
programs - will become an even more crucial factor in the attempt at reducing the
number of hungry people in the world by half by the year 2015, as was called for
by the World Food Summit 1996 (FAO, 1996e). The growing world population
must be fed from an almost constant land and water resource base (Heidhues,
1994). Between 1962 and 1989 the combined total food consumption of 90
developing countries rose by 134%2 (Boongarts, 1996). In those years, agricultural
production growth based on the expansion of area increase and the intensification
of area through improved management and breeding. One of the biggest
challenges facing the world today is keeping up with the increasing food demand
because of population and income growth. In this context, food production will
require a sustainable utilization of natural resources like land and water and it will
demand a more intensive and intelligent utilization of genetic resources. Shortterm projections for 2010 or 2020 based on econometric models (Mitchell et aI.,
1995; Alexandratos, 1995; Agcaoili et aI., 1995) foresee no major obstacles
impeding the continued expansion of the food supply, given a continued increase
of yields, in addition to other factors facilitating the dissemination of new
technologies 3. But because of the evidence of new yield ceilings under given
circumstances, which have been approached by producers in some countries
(Alexandratos, 1995), increasing food production by breeding depends upon the
continued access to and the incorporation of genetic resources into the breeding
programs.
Since the beginning of agriculture, farmers have been using and improving
plant genetic resources by domesticating, cultivating, and improving crop
varieties. In addition, they have been storing seeds for the next planting season.
Storing plant genetic resources for the sake of conserving varieties threatened by
1
This was achieved mainly by the increases of cultivated land, cropping frequency, and crop
yield. Whereby the increase in average crop yield was the most important change, the yield
increase over that period of time is estimated to be 41 to 75%, depending on the approach
(either taking the average of each country (largest countries like India and China are
influencing the outcome more) or taking the average of the changes of all countries together.
, Improvement of economic policies, investment in research and human resources are examples
for other factors facilitating the dissemination of new technologies.
1 Introduction
materials the conservation of genetic resources is becoming increasingly
important.
Increasing production - and more recently stabilizing production at a high level
- have been a question of increasing inputs like fertilizer and pesticides, and
improving management systems, mainly irrigation and crop varieties. Improving
varieties has been seen merely as a function depending on the variables of
allocation of human and financial resources to research and development, i.e.,
breeding. The importance of plant genetic resources derived from local varieties or
from wild relatives of domesticated crops has not been reflected economically,
because the free and unlimited availability of plant genetic resources has been
taken for granted and the small but important input of traditional varieties or wild
crop relatives was often neglected in breeding programs.
Breeding - and therewith PGRFA, as a small but essential input for breeding
programs - will become an even more crucial factor in the attempt at reducing the
number of hungry people in the world by half by the year 2015, as was called for
by the World Food Summit 1996 (FAO, 1996e). The growing world population
must be fed from an almost constant land and water resource base (Heidhues,
1994). Between 1962 and 1989 the combined total food consumption of 90
developing countries rose by 134%2 (Boongarts, 1996). In those years, agricultural
production growth based on the expansion of area increase and the intensification
of area through improved management and breeding. One of the biggest
challenges facing the world today is keeping up with the increasing food demand
because of population and income growth. In this context, food production will
require a sustainable utilization of natural resources like land and water and it will
demand a more intensive and intelligent utilization of genetic resources. Shortterm projections for 2010 or 2020 based on econometric models (Mitchell et aI.,
1995; Alexandratos, 1995; Agcaoili et aI., 1995) foresee no major obstacles
impeding the continued expansion of the food supply, given a continued increase
of yields, in addition to other factors facilitating the dissemination of new
technologies 3. But because of the evidence of new yield ceilings under given
circumstances, which have been approached by producers in some countries
(Alexandratos, 1995), increasing food production by breeding depends upon the
continued access to and the incorporation of genetic resources into the breeding
programs.
Since the beginning of agriculture, farmers have been using and improving
plant genetic resources by domesticating, cultivating, and improving crop
varieties. In addition, they have been storing seeds for the next planting season.
Storing plant genetic resources for the sake of conserving varieties threatened by
1
This was achieved mainly by the increases of cultivated land, cropping frequency, and crop
yield. Whereby the increase in average crop yield was the most important change, the yield
increase over that period of time is estimated to be 41 to 75%, depending on the approach
(either taking the average of each country (largest countries like India and China are
influencing the outcome more) or taking the average of the changes of all countries together.
, Improvement of economic policies, investment in research and human resources are examples
for other factors facilitating the dissemination of new technologies.