Feeding a World Population of More than Eight Billion People: A Challenge to Science PDF
Preview Feeding a World Population of More than Eight Billion People: A Challenge to Science
FEEDING a WORLD POPULATION of More Than EIGHT BILLION PEOPLE This page intentionally left blank FEEDING a WORLD POPULATION of More Than EIGHT BILLION PEOPLE A Challenge to Science Edited by Professor J. C. Waterlow Professor D. G. Armstrong Sir Leslie Fowden Sir Ralph Riley New York Oxford Oxford University Press in association with The Rank Prize Funds 1998 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Dar cs Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved- No part of this publicalion may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Feeding a world population of more than eight billion people : a challenge to science / edited by J. C. Watcrlow . . . [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-511312-8 1. Food supply —Congresses. 2. Agricultural innovations — Congresses. I. Watcrlow, J. C. (John Conrad) IID9000.5.F34 1998 338.1'9-~dc21 97-30064 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper FOREWORD This volume records the proceedings of the 10th International Symposium, spon- sored by the Nutrition Committee and the Trustees of the Rank Prize Funds. The first of these symposia was held in 1974, and the principle the Committee has adhered to ever since has been to encourage an unconventional association with nutrition and /or crop husbandry of one or more subjects that is likely to stimulate further research along promising lines. Feeding a World Population of More Than Eight Billion People: A Challenge to Science fulfills this objective. It follows that many of the people invited to speak, or to participate in the audience, had not met previously when pursuing their research interests. The Trus- tees hope that all the participants will benefit from the new contacts they have made at the meeting and that new insights in nutrition will emerge. A few words about the origin of these meetings. The Rank Prize Funds were established by the late Lord J. Arthur Rank shortly before his death in 1972 at the age of 84. He set up the Funds to encourage scientific work in two broad subjects that indirectly had been the bases of his per- sonal fortune — nutrition (including crop husbandry) on the one hand and opto- electronics, on the other. The first theme reflected Lord Rank's involvement with the food industry as chairman of the family business started by his father, and the second his involvement with the film and electronics industries as chairman of a business he set up himself. A substantial sum of money was divided equally to establish a fund for each of these subjects. Lord Rank died before he was able to indicate in any detail the objectives of the funds. Trustees were appointed from among his closest friends, and they en- deavored to interpret what they believed would have been his wishes; Lord Rank was a religious man, and they were helped by the guideline that the outcome should vi Foreword be of special benefit to mankind. The Trustees established two expert committees of eminent scientists, one in each subject, to advise them. Although the Funds were dedicated to two very different areas of science, the original Trustees decided that the wishes of the founder would be met, first, by awarding substantial prizes to individuals in recognition of significant advances in the fields of science with which the Funds are concerned; second, by sponsorship of research in key areas identified by the advisory committees; and, third, by spon- sorship of international and minisymposia in each of the two subject areas. The proceedings of the international symposia re always published and so made available to other research workers and students. This volume is dedicated to the memory of the late Lord Rank, without whose benefaction the symposium Feeding a World Population of More Than Eight Billion People: A Challenge to Science would not have taken place. Jack Edclman, C.B.E. Trustee and Chairman, Advisory Committee on Nutrition, The Rank Prize Funds CONTENTS Contributors ix Introductory Remarks xi Aaron Klug Part I The Challenge 1 Needs for Food: Are We Asking Too Much? 3 I. C. Waterlow 2 The Economies of Food 19 Partha Dasgupta Part II Basic Resources and Constraints 3 Land Resources and Constraints to Crop Production 39 D. /. Greenland, P. J. Gregory, and P. H. Nye 4 Water and Food in Developing Countries in the Next Century 56 M. Yudelman 5 Energy for Agriculture in the Twenty-first Century 69 B. A. Stout Part III Applications for Science to Increase Yield 6 Greater Crop Production: Whence and Whither? 89 L. T. Evans 7 How and When Will Plant Biotechnology Help? 98 Marc Van Montagu vhiii contents 8 What Limits the Efficiency of Photosynthesis, and Can There Be Beneficial Improvements? 107 /. Barber 9 Rubisco: The Key to Improved Crop Production for a World Population of More Than Eight Billion People? 124 S. P. Long 10 Increasing Rice Productivity by Manipulation of Starch Biosynthesis during Seed Development 137 Sang-Bong Choi, Yunsun Zhang, Hiroyuki Ito, Kim Stephens, Thomas Winder, Gerald E. Edwards, and Thomas W. Okita 11 Improving Yield Potential by Modifying Plant Type and Exploiting Hetcrosis 150 G. S. Khush, S. Peng, and S. S. Virmani 12 Developing Crops with Tolerance to Salinity and Drought Stress 171 D. P. S. Verma 13 Prospects for Engineering Enhanced Durable Disease Resistance in Crops 183 Chris Lamb 14 A Systems Perspective on Postharvcst Losses 191 M. Gill and N. Poulter Part IV The Role of Animal Products in Feeding Eight Billion People 15 Significance of Dietary Protein Source in Human Nutrition: Animal and/or Plant Proteins? 205 Vemon R. Young, Nevin S. Scrimshaw, and Peter L. Pellett 16 Competition between Livestock and Mankind for Nutrients: Let Ruminants Eat Grass 223 II. A. Fitzhugh 17 Animals and the Human Food Chain 232 R. B. Heap Part V Social Aspects 18 Practical innovation: Partnerships between Scientists and FaFarmers 249 G. R. Conway 19 Productivity, Poverty Alleviation, and Food Security 264 Donald L. Winkelmann Index 273 CONTRIBUTORS Professor D. G. Armstrong G. E. Edwards 44 North Road Washington State University Ponteland Pullman, Washington 99164-6340 Northumberland, NE20 9UR L. T. Evans J. Barber Division of Plant Industry Department of Biochemistry CSIRO Wolfson Laboratories GPO Box 1600 Imperial College of Science, Technology, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia and Medicine London, SW7 2AY H. A. Fitzhugh International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) S-B. Choi P.O. Box 30709 Washington State University Nairobi, Kenya Pullman, Washington 99164-6340 Sir Leslie Fowden G. R. Conway 31, Southdown Road Sussex House IIarpenden University of Sussex Hertfordshire, AI,5 IPF Falmer Brighton, BN1 1RH M. Gill Natural Resources International P. Dasgupta Central Avenue Faculty of Economics Chatham Maritime Sidgwick Avenue Chatham Cambridge, CB3 9DD Kent, ME4 4TB
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