Development of irrigation critical to elimination of hunger

Jacques Diouf, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations today said the creation of irrigation facilities is critical for eliminating hunger from the developing world.

Speaking at a function organised by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) after receiving the "Distinguished Fellow of Icrisat" title here on Wednesday, Diouf said small-scale and affordable development of irrigation was the need of the hour.

In fact, the Green Revolution failed in Africa because of lack of water control system in that part of the world, he said. Even now only 7 per cent of the arable land in Africa was being irrigated, he pointed out. Diouf also called for the integration of affordable technologies and extension system for improving the productivity in agriculture.

He said that only 20 per cent of the arable land in the world was accounting for 40 per cent of the total food grain production.

Stating that reducing hunger by half by 2018 as a millennium development goal (MDG) needs more such concrete initiatives by the governments of all the countries, the FAO director general said the organisation intends to support the nations in agricultural research and extension system, which were also critical in improving the food situation.

Expressing his displeasure over the decline of governmental assistance to agriculture by 50 per cent during the past decade in the developing world, Diouf suggested that all the measures aimed at rural development should go hand in hand with agriculture development.

According to him, 50 per cent of the sub-Saharan population and 50 per cent of the Asian population were suffering from hunger. Creation of employment opportunities in rural areas and providing direct access to food were the other steps, he suggested for achieving the goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half.

William Dar, director-general of Icrisat, thanked the FAO for granting close to $1 million to support 323 projects in the last five years to his organisation.

"Icrisat is committed to pursue FAO's mission to help developing countries reduce the number of hungry people in the semi-arid tropics by half," he said.

Jacques Diouf is the first person to receive the Icrisat's distinguished Fellow title. He was here to attend the Indian Science Congress, which began on Wednesday.