Innovation in Agriculture
One of the most important
areas where innovation is needed is the agriculture sector
in order to meet the growing needs of food for the world
population that has crossed the seven billion mark and will
reach nine billion within the next three decades. For this
the biggest challenge is access to water. Food prices have
been rising at an alarming rate in most countries, making
life miserable for the poor billions. The highly
controversial building of dams in India, which would divert
water from Pakistan, could eventually lead to a nuclear
conflagration between these two nuclear states.
In an earlier article I have
emphasised how innovation has become a key factor for
socioeconomic development today. One of the most important
areas where innovation is needed is the agriculture sector
in order to meet the growing needs of food for the world
population that has crossed the seven billion mark and will
reach nine billion within the next three decades. For this
the biggest challenge is access to water.
About 98 percent of water on our planet is seawater, another
one percent is brackish water (having more salt than
freshwater but less than seawater) and only about one
percent is freshwater. As global warming results in
increased water shortages, people must look for alternative
ways to grow crops.
According to the 2006 UN report, two out of every three
persons on our planet will be living under water-stress
conditions by 2025. There are about 1.5 million new mouths
to feed every week, aggravating the situation. Clearly
science has an important role to play in developing
processes that will allow the world population access to
water for agriculture, drinking and for other needs.
The unsustainable use of water and land has led to increased
volume of food crops over the last several decades. This is
a bubble, stretched to a point of bursting, and it could
send the world spinning into a crisis of unprecedented
magnitude.
The World Bank has estimated
that about 175 million people in India are able to eat from
grain crops only due to overpumping – water being pumped
from underground aquifers much faster than it is
replenished. The water table is therefore receding at an
alarming rate. Saudi Arabia had become self-sufficient in
wheat by using water from an aquifer.
The source, however, is
running dry, so that the wheat production could stop before
long. The unpredictability of weather pattern is another
serious factor that can send us over the precipice. The 2010
heatwave in Moscow caused a loss of 40 percent of their
hundred million ton grain crop. Had this happened in India,
China or the US, it could have had a devastating impact on
the world grain production.
Food prices have been rising at an alarming rate in most
countries, making life miserable for the poor billions. The
highly controversial building of dams in India, which would
divert water from Pakistan, could eventually lead to a
nuclear conflagration between these two nuclear states.
About two-third of our planet is covered by water but it is
saline, making it useless for most agricultural purposes.
However, you may have noticed that some plants, such as
mangroves, can grow well with seawater near the seashore or
under the sea. Nature has evolved certain genetic mechanisms
that make them salt tolerant.
Some other plants, known as
‘halophytes’, can grow in coastal regions, deserts, marshes,
brackish aquifers and even in seas and oceans, and can serve
as sources of food and oil. Growing them in such areas will
not compete with land used for food crops.
The identification of salt-tolerant genes and their
incorporation into wheat, maize or rice can also impart salt
tolerance into food crops, thereby allowing them to be grown
in seawater or brackish water. Some halophytes can also help
remove salt from soils affected by salinity.
The process of reverse osmosis has been widely employed for
the production of drinking water from seawater. It involves
pumping saline water through a polymeric membrane that
results in the salt remaining on the one side and purified
water being pumped through to the other side of the
membrane.
However the process is
expensive since it consumes a considerable amount of energy.
The membrane used is also costly and it has to be regularly
replaced because it has a limited life.
An exciting breakthrough has
occurred in this field, involving a ‘going with the flow’
(forward osmosis) approach instead of trying to oppose it.
This involves placing a high concentration of another solute
(such as sugar) on one side of the membrane with saltwater
on the other side.
This results in the natural
forward flow of water from the side containing saltwater to
the side containing the solute, such as sugar, resulting in
a process for the preparation of soft drinks from seawater
through ‘forward osmosis’.
This process harnesses the energy gradient, instead of
opposing it, and therefore consumes up to 80 percent less
energy because the pump pushes water through the membrane in
the same direction as its natural flow tendency.
Hydration Technology
Innovations in Albany, Oregon, USA was one of the first
companies to use this technology. US soldiers started using
‘X-packs’ that contain sugar and flavours on one side of the
forward membrane.
When such packs are dipped in
seawater, or even in a dirty puddle of ordinary water, they
suck pure water molecules into the pack leaving salt and
dirt particles behind, thereby creating a pure sweet
flavoured drink.
A fact associated with the production of fruits, vegetables
and other food crops is that most crops are seasonal. This
is because there are certain underlying chemical mechanisms
that control the time when plants should flower so that
insects may be attracted for propagation. Scientists have
been trying to understand how these functions are regulated,
and the genes responsible for the process.
Xing Wang Deng, the Daniel C Eaton professor of molecular,
cellular and developmental biology at Yale and colleagues
have discovered the precise gene (named DET1) responsible
for regulating these functions in plants.
By controlling these
biological clocks that nature has built into plants, it has
now become possible to obtain crops throughout the year,
instead of only having the crops in certain seasons. The day
is not far when you will have mangoes, for example,
available around the year instead of just in the summer
months.
The roadmap for agriculture and other important fields for
Pakistan was built under my supervision as part of a
two-year long exercise which involved consultation with
thousands of scientists, agriculturists, industrialists and
government officials.
It led to a 320-page document
‘Technology Based Industrial Vision & Strategy for
Pakistan’s Socio-economic Development’ that was approved by
the cabinet in 2007. It is time we integrated it into our
national development plans and implemented its
recommendations.
There is urgency to act before it is too late. Answers lie
in education, curbing population growth, adoption of modern
and sustainable farming techniques, restoration of nature’s
balances by cutting carbon emissions, afforestation,
restoring soils, and adopting water conservation methods at
all levels.
The present government has committed to increasing the
allocation to education to four percent of GDP but this has
not happened in reality.
The previous government too
had committed through a cabinet decision to increase the
allocation to education to seven percent of GDP but that
proved to be hollow words, because there was no intent to
invest in education. It is time we woke up from our slumber
and invested heavily in education, science, technology and
innovation so that we can stand with dignity in the world.
December, 2015
By:
Atta-ur-Rahman
Source: The News