2004-10-25
This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture
Report.
An environment that is biologically diverse has lots of different
plants and animals. The Food and Agriculture Organization says this
is needed for people to have enough high-quality food to lead active
and healthy lives. For World Food Day this year, the United Nations
agency chose the message: "Biodiversity for Food Security"
The idea of biodiversity recognizes that natural systems are
complex and depend on one another.
In agriculture, depending on only a few crops can be dangerous.
One example is the Great Potato Famine in the eighteen forties.
Ireland depended on potatoes as a food resource. But a disease
ruined the crop for several years. More than one million people died
from hunger.
Yet experts say the world depends on only four crops to provide
half its food energy from plants. These are wheat, maize, rice and
potato.
The experts say it is important to support a large number of
different food crops and farm animals that can survive different
conditions. Such diversity helps to reduce the risk from losing one
main crop.
Farmers also have a responsibility to protect wild species. The
Food and Agriculture Organization says more than forty percent of
all land is used for agriculture. Farm fields are an important place
for wild animals to live and reproduce.
Also, farmers must consider the effects that agriculture has on
the environment. Farm pollution or poor agricultural methods can
harm wetlands, rivers and other environments needed to support life.
The World Bank says invasive species are a severe threat to
biodiversity. Plants and animals often spread without natural
controls when they enter areas they are not native to. They can
destroy crops, native species and property. Invasive species cost
the world economy thousands of millions of dollars each year.
The World Bank says it is the world's largest supporter of
biodiversity projects. It says its support had reached almost five
thousand million dollars by the end of the two thousand four
financial year.
World Food Day is observed on October sixteenth. It celebrates
the anniversary of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which
has its headquarters in Rome. The F.A.O. started in nineteen
forty-five in Quebec City, Canada.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario
Ritter. This is Gwen Outen.