Agriculture%20at%20a%20Crossroads_Global%20Report%20(English)

20 | IAASTD Global Report
Multifunctionality and sustainability would require indicators
of both local and scientific knowledge.
1.2.4 Agrifood systems, agricultural products and
services
Agricultural systems, outputs and services. The major outputs
generated by the multiple agricultural systems worldwide
may be referred to as “provisioning services” (MA,
2003):
• Food consisting of a vast range of food products derived
from plants, animals, and microbes for human
consumption;
• Feed products for animals such as livestock or fish, consisting
of grass, herbs, cereals or coarse grains and other
crops;
• Fiber such as wood, jute, hemp, silk, and other products;
• Fuel such as wood, dung, biofuel plants and other biological
materials as sources of energy;
• Genetic resources including genes and genetic information
used for animal and plant breeding, and for biotechnology;
• Biochemicals, natural medicines, and pharmaceuticals
including medicines, biocides, food additives, and biological
materials;
• Ornamental resources including animal products such
as skins and shells, and ornamental plants and lawn
grass; and
• Freshwater from springs and other sources, as an example
of the linkage between provisioning and regulating
services.
Agricultural systems are highly complex, embracing economic,
biophysical, sociocultural and other parameters.
They are based on fragile and interdependent natural systems
and social constructions. Agriculture has a potential to
play positive roles at different scales and in different spheres
(Table 1-3).
Diversity of agricultural systems
Globally, agricultural systems have been changing over time
in terms of intensity and diversity, as agriculture undergoes
transition driven by complex and interacting factors related
to production, consumption, trade and political concerns.
There are a multitude of agricultural systems worldwide.
They range from small subsistence farms to small-scale and
large commercial operations across a variety of ecosystems
and encompassing very diverse production patterns. These
can include polycultures or monocultures, mixed crop and
livestock systems, extensive or intensive livestock systems,
aquaculture systems, agroforestry systems, and others in
various combinations. In Africa alone, there are at least 20
major farming systems combining a variety of agricultural
approaches, be they small- or large-scale, irrigated or nonirrigated,
crop- or tuber-based, hoe- or plough-based, in
highland or lowland situations (Spencer et al., 2003).
Agricultural systems are embedded in a multiplicity of
different economic, political and social contexts worldwide.
The importance of the agricultural sector in these economies,
or the type of agricultural policy enforced will therefore
depend on the national economies. It is thus crucial
to gain a clear knowledge of the state of agriculture in the
different ecological and socioeconomic contexts to be able
to assess the potential for further development of this sector
in relation to development and sustainability goals. The
different contexts have led to economic disparities within
and among regions, countries and especially between industrial
and small-scale farmers (FAO, 2000). Apart from differences
in labor productivity, examples of disparities are
average farm sizes (121 ha in North America vs. 1.6 ha in
Asia and Africa, see von Braun, 2005; 100,000 ha in Russia,
Ukraine and Kazakhstan, see Serova, 2007) and the crop
yield gap between high- and low-income countries.
The last 50 years have seen a tremendous increase in agricultural
food production, at a rate more rapid than human
population growth. This was mainly due to the increase in
area productivity, which differed between the regions of the
world, while cereal-harvested area stagnated almost everywhere
(Cassman, 2003).
In all regions of the world, however, a decrease in the
economic importance of the agricultural sector at different
stages of economic development can be observed. But there
is insufficient recognition of the fact that, in a monetized
economy, the central functions of agriculture support the
performance of other sectors. The regulating and supporting
functions of global ecosystems are insufficiently understood.
The findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA,
2005b) show the key role of agriculture not only in productive
and social aspects but also in preserving or endangering
ecosystem functions.
The crops component of agriculture
World crop and livestock output growth fell in 2005 to the
lowest annual rate since the early 1970s, and well below
the rates reached in 2003 and 2004, with a strong decline
in industrialized countries as a group and negative 1.6%
growth in 2004 (FAO, 2006a). This was mainly due to a
decrease in output growth in the crops sector from 12% in
2004 to negative 4% in 2005 in industrialized countries.
But with growing resource scarcity, future food production
depends more than ever on increasing crop yields and livestock
productivity (FAO, 2006a). The positive and negative
effects of technological progress have raised uncertainties.
Two groups of crops are cited here as examples.
Cereal crops. World cereal production, after several years of
stagnation, increased sharply in 2004/2005, reaching 2,065
million tonnes, a 9% increase from the previous year, and
global utilization continued an upward trend (FAO, 2006a).
However, cereal yields in East Asia rose by an impressive
2.8% a year in 1961–2004, much higher than the 1.8%
growth in industrialized countries, mainly due to widespread
use of irrigation, improved varieties, and fertilizer
(Evenson and Gollin, 2003).
The green revolution doubled cereal production in Asia
between 1970 and 1995, yet the total land area cultivated
with cereals increased by only 4% (Rosegrant and Hazell,
2001) while in sub-Saharan Africa it changed little in the
same period.
Slowing down expansion of cultivated areas through
intensification benefited the environment by preserving the
forests, wetlands and biodiversity. But there are negative