Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (2009) / Chapter Skim
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8 Priorities for Emerging Technologies
8 Priorities for Emerging Technologies
Pages 233-248
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From page 233... ...
Evaluating Technologies IN A BROAD CONTEXT All of the technologies described in this report could potentially play a role in improving agricultural productivity. However, in addition to identifying technologies, the committee was asked to build a framework for prioritizing them, with the goal of recommending those most likely to have a transformative impact on farmers in SSA and SA.
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From page 234... ...
In these regions, introducing even the most highly-effective technology may fail to provide even marginal increases in overall farm productivity. It is difficult to improve livestock reproduction or increase meat or milk production if the animals are chronically infected with pathogens and are fed low-quality, poorly digestible forages.
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From page 235... ...
The effective management of water requires local and regional coordination with the advice of local engineers and hydrologists. Weather prediction algorithms need rainfall data collected widely at the ground level.
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From page 236... ...
In part, this is because existing weather conditions, models and forecasting tools for those regions are under-developed. If climate change creates more erratic weather conditions, it will be even more important in the future to provide farmers with forecasts of the onset of the rainy season, the prospect of severe weather events, and the likelihood of droughts.
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From page 237... ...
The committee considered these limitations as it reflected on the selection of priorities in the broader context of the themes described earlier. conclusions and RECOMMENDATIONS Of the more than 60 technologies described in the report, the committee selected 18, grouped into two tiers, as having the greatest potential impact
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From page 238... ...
Some of these will require TABLE 8-1 Priority Tools and Technologies to Improve Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia Tier I High Priority for Application Tier II Development High Priority for Additional Exploration Soil management techniques -- Chapter 5 Soil-related nanomaterials -- Chapter 5 Integrated water management -- Chapter 4 Manipulation of the rhizosphere -- Chapter 5 Climate and weather prediction -- Site-specific gene integration -- Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Remote sensing of plant physiology -- Annotated crop genomes -- Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Genome-based animal breeding -- Microbial genomics of the rumen -- Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Sperm stem cell transplantation -- Chapter 6 Plant-mediated gene silencing -- Chapter 3 Solar energy -- Chapter 7 Biocontrol and biopesticides -- Chapter 3 Photosynthetic microbe-based biofuels -- Disease-suppressive soils -- Chapter 5 Chapter 7 Animal vaccines -- Chapter 5 Energy storage -- Chapter 7
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From page 239... ...
Soil and water management are integrative technologies -- they require multiple methods determined for a particular site. The elements of different soil management systems described in Chapter 5, have similar objectives: to increase soil carbon content, enhance soil water infiltration, ensure the availability of water at the plant root zone, reduce soil erosion, create a positive nutrient budget in the soil, suppress the populations or activities of soilborne plant pathogens and soil-inhabiting insect pests, and encourage beneficial soil organisms.
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From page 240... ...
A third emerging technology is the use of optical sensing of plant physiological characteristics as a tool for nutrient management and determining the state of plant health and growth. Current technology has the ability to predict yield potential midway through the growing season and to suggest future fertilizer requirements based on the amount of nitrogen being removed from the soil by a plant.
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From page 241... ...
Modern animal-breeding approaches will require a strategy for recording and collecting important phenotypic characteristics and DNA samples from about 10,000 animals. For SSA and SA, it will be necessary to build reference genome sequences for water buffalo, indigenous breeds of cattle that exhibit superior survival traits, and economically important breeds of dairy and meat goats.
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From page 242... ...
This discovery has led researchers to create vectors containing genes that encode RNAs that target and down-regulate genes or interfere with a gene's control of critical processes related to the interactions of plants with biotic stressors. Described further in Chapter 3, research results strongly suggest that plant-mediated delivery of gene-silencing RNAs can be used to control viruses, nematodes, certain insects, and possibly also parasitic plants and fungi.
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From page 243... ...
Opportunities for Energy Production Over the next several decades, significant public and private resources will be committed to developing renewable alternatives to fossil-based energy sources. If there were ever an opportunity for SSA and SA to leap beyond the status quo of energy supply infrastructure, now is the time.
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From page 244... ...
The devices are predicted to replace batteries in the industrialized world in the future, but their role in SSA and SA could be to store locally produced electricity. FINAL THOUGHTS: BUILDING LOCAL CAPACITY Many of the technologies described in this report are likely to be developed into agricultural and other applications for the industrialized world by the public and private sector in industrialized countries.
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From page 245... ...
As originally conceived, those institutions were provided with land, facilities, and recurring state and federal financing to support research and teaching that were important for farmers, ranchers, and foresters. The knowledge and technical knowhow coming from their research was made publicly available through extension faculty who taught the best farming practices and maintained demonstration plots, yield trials, and diagnostic clinics.
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From page 246... ...
The long-term outcome of such an effort would be the creation of a core of well-educated, well-trained scientists that share a common bond and have the interest and dedication to build comparable research institutions in their home countries. technological tools were identified that could be put to use to improve agricultural productivity and empower farmers to control their growing environments, their results, and their opportunities for income.
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From page 247... ...
2002. CAADP (Comprehensive Af rican Agriculture Development Programme)
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