Download - icrisat

121
cursor at the beginning letter of the second sentence and press Enter. Do the same with the third sentence, and
the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth. The paragraph should now look like this:
The onset of the Green Revolution in the late sixties and
early seventies brought unprecedented increases in food
production in favorable areas of the developing world.
However, many regions in less-favored, rainfed areas
such as the semi-arid tropics (SAT) have been bypassed.
The SAT covers parts of 55 developing countries
populated by about 1.4 billion people, of which 560 million
(40%) are classified as poor, and 70% of these live in
rural areas.
The SAT has very short growing seasons, separated by
very hot and dry periods.
Natural soil fertility is very low and pest and disease
pressure are intense.
With persistent drought and land degradation as the
overarching constraints, SAT farmers face perennial risks
in improving their productivity and livelihoods.
Read those sentences separately and you will begin to understand a little more. Now, type these (those in italics;
again, you don’t have to format):
1st sentence: Green Revolution, sixties, seventies, unprecedented, increases, food production, favorable
areas, developing world.
Even if you don’t understand ‘unprecedented’ (literally, ‘no precedent;’ it means this is the first time it happened),
the meaning of that sentence has now become clearer to you, right?
2nd sentence: many regions, less-favored, rainfed areas, semi-arid tropics (SAT), bypassed.
Because you are the one who typed, you remember that in the first sentence, the words ‘favorable areas’ appear
and, now, in the second sentence, ‘less-favored’ or unfavorable areas. (Does ‘less-favored’ refer to ‘rainfed areas?’
The sentence is not clear on that.)
3rd sentence: SAT, 55 developing countries, 1.4 billion people, 560 million (40%) poor, 70% live rural areas.
The semi-arid tropics: what does the term mean really? Check the Internet. (Oh yes, when I’m writing, I’m at the
same time surfing the Internet searching, reading. It helps me think some more, and in a more relaxed manner –
Choosing Joy