latest knowledge, in addition to access to water supply, lack of capital, shortage of
cultivated land, shortage of labor, lack of technical know-how, and lack of inputs.
1.3.1.2 Agrochemicals and Machinery
At the global level, agricultural production has grown much faster than the population in recent decades, leading to a steady increase in per capita agricultural
output (including food) and a steady decline in world prices for most agricultural
commodities, particularly since the late 1970s. This has been achieved primarily
with a technological revolution that has increased yields through increases in
modern inputs irrigation, improved seeds, fertilizer, tractors, and pesticides as
shown in Fig. 1.1 (Hazell and Wood 2008). As a result of this unprecedented
growth in agricultural productivity, the world now produces more than enough
food to feed the entire population to the minimum UN standards if it were distributed more equitably. Even more remarkably, this surplus has been achieved
despite the diversion of considerable land, labor, and other rural resources to the
production of higher value foods (meat, milk, fruits, vegetables, etc.) to meet the
changing food demands of growing more urbanized and more affluent populations.
This includes the additional cereals needed as feed grains in intensive livestock
systems and oil crops for inland aquaculture (Hazell and Wood 2008).
Fig. 1.1 Global trends in the intensification of crop production (index 1961–2002/2005).
Reproduced from Hazell and Wood (2008). Updated from FAOSTAT (2006; tractor and fertilizer
data to 2002, land use to 2003, production to 2005)
6
L. Garcia-Mier et al.
cultivated land, shortage of labor, lack of technical know-how, and lack of inputs.
1.3.1.2 Agrochemicals and Machinery
At the global level, agricultural production has grown much faster than the population in recent decades, leading to a steady increase in per capita agricultural
output (including food) and a steady decline in world prices for most agricultural
commodities, particularly since the late 1970s. This has been achieved primarily
with a technological revolution that has increased yields through increases in
modern inputs irrigation, improved seeds, fertilizer, tractors, and pesticides as
shown in Fig. 1.1 (Hazell and Wood 2008). As a result of this unprecedented
growth in agricultural productivity, the world now produces more than enough
food to feed the entire population to the minimum UN standards if it were distributed more equitably. Even more remarkably, this surplus has been achieved
despite the diversion of considerable land, labor, and other rural resources to the
production of higher value foods (meat, milk, fruits, vegetables, etc.) to meet the
changing food demands of growing more urbanized and more affluent populations.
This includes the additional cereals needed as feed grains in intensive livestock
systems and oil crops for inland aquaculture (Hazell and Wood 2008).
Fig. 1.1 Global trends in the intensification of crop production (index 1961–2002/2005).
Reproduced from Hazell and Wood (2008). Updated from FAOSTAT (2006; tractor and fertilizer
data to 2002, land use to 2003, production to 2005)
6
L. Garcia-Mier et al.