NEWS
The impact o
on Food
Current Address: Stewardship and Ope
Reprinted From: http
Dr Gerhard
Crop production and animal production
probably provide 90%
of the world human population’s
food needs. Very few people on earth
live as hunter-gatherers (maybe those
who do are the lucky ones) while the
rest of us rely on agriculture to supply
our food. Food crops are very sophisticated
biological entities with high yield
potential under ideal conditions but we
are hampered not only by the challenges
of climate change but also by the
pressure of crop pests (invertebrates
and vertebrates), weeds (competing
plants) and plant diseases (pathogens
and microbes). Historical events still
reverberate in our minds to caution us
against devastating crop pests, weeds
and diseases like the late blight that
killed potatoes in Ireland between 1845
and 1849 and caused severe famine and
mass human mortality. The challenges
of climate add the pressures of pests
and makes life interesting if not stressful
for modern farmers.
Can modern crops succeed under
pest pressure without pest management?
A fair percentage of the world’s human
population have no idea what crop production
means. People buy their food
from the retail outlets and demand
healthy, tasty and good-looking fresh
produce and processed foods without
understanding that it is produced in a
constant “war” situation – that “war” is
waged against crop pests, weeds and
diseases. Question is why plant pests
and diseases are in such competition
with us? The answer is quite logical: we
managed to select certain traits like high
yields, growth form, short growth cycle
in cultivation but in the process the natural
compatibility or resistance against
pests and diseases are sacrificed. A
second rationale for the challenges we
face with plant pests and diseases is
the agricultural practice we use for food
production, namely large tracts of land
planted with dense stands of monocultures.
Any arthropod species will cash
in on such abundan
pathogens are very
tween individual pla
ing in magnitude to
tions. Fact is that ou
highly susceptible t
disease while weed
in crop production.
which we can prod
the 8.5 billion peop
ing our crops with so
ment. Nature’s little
too numerous and
left without control.
Arthropod and nem
Insects and arachnid
sidered serious crop
are often forgotten
size, but they can be
to many crop specie
Sporadic pest outb
The recent red locu
tral Africa is an exa
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