The Summary Report of the FAO study "World agriculture: towards 2015/2030" has been released. It presents the latest FAO assessment of long-term developments in world food, nutrition and agriculture, including the forestry and fisheries sectors. FAO issued similar studies on global agriculture in 1995, 1988, 1981 and 1970. The projections cover about 140 countries and 32 crop and livestock commodities. Among the topics covered is the "role of technology". For biotechnology, the main findings are that: "Modern biotechnology offers promise as a means to improving food security. If the environmental threats from biotechnology are addressed, and if the technology is affordable by and geared towards the needs of the poor and undernourished, genetically modified crop varieties could help to sustain farming in marginal areas and to restore degraded lands to production. To address the concerns of consumers FAO called for improved testing and safety protocols for genetically modified organisms". See http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/y3557e/y3557e00.htm (document in English) or contact [email protected] for more information. The report is also available in French and Spanish. This Summary Report is a shorter version of the results of the technical FAO study "World agriculture: towards 2015/2030" which should be available by the end of 2002.

11/10/2002