Crop Diversity and The Economy
Agriculture is the economic foundation of most countries, and for developing countries the most likely source of economic growth. Growth is most rapid where agricultural productivity has risen the most, and the reverse is also true. Growth in agriculture, although beneficial for the wider economy, benefits the poor most, and by providing affordable food these benefits extend beyond the 70% of the world’s poorest people who live in rural areas and for whose livelihoods agriculture remains central. Ensuring agriculture is able to play this fundamental role requires a range of improvements including: the growing of higher value crops, promoting value-adding activities through, for example, improved processing, expanding access to markets, and lowering food prices through increasing production, processing and marketing efficiency, particularly for subsistence and very low income farming families. Fundamental to all of these potential solutions is crop diversity – the diversity that enables farmers and plant breeders to develop higher yielding, more productive varieties having improved quality characteristics required by farmers and desired by consumers. They can breed varieties better suited to particular processing methods or that store longer or that can be transported with less loss. They can produce varieties that resist pests and diseases and are drought tolerant, providing more protection against crop failure and better insulating poor farmers from risk. Agriculture’s part in fighting poverty is complex, but without the genetic diversity found within crops, it cannot fulfill its potential.
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