Agriculture’s importance today

Of biotechnology and wisdom

When modern science and traditional culture have equal standing in problem solving, impressive and lasting results are possible.

Take the case of oca, a traditional tuber and staple food for 10 million people living in the Andes. Using “meristem culture” biotechnology and a small research grant, a post-graduate student at San Marcos National University in Lima, Peru set out in the 1980s to remove an inborn virus that decreased the crop’s yield. He took a piece of meristem - plant tissue consisting of actively dividing cells - and reproduced a whole plant that was virus free. The crop yield doubled.

The next steps were as important as the scientific breakthrough. Rather than trying to market his “super oca” variety to poor farmers throughout the Andes, the researcher reflected on the nature and uses of oca in its cultural context. He had freed one variety from virus, but each agro-ecological zone had its own variety, adapted and selected over millennia to suit the altitude, climate and soil of its location and to be resistant to local diseases and pests. What’s more, each variety suited the needs and taste of the community that cultivated it.

A single “super oca” variety would not thrive everywhere. The researcher’s wise solution was to collect varieties from different zones, raise virus-free versions in the laboratory and return each to its home. Since the crop was not normally sold but eaten by the farmer’s family or exchanged with neighbours within the zone, this strategy amounted to a targeted and inexpensive way of reducing poverty and improving food security.

The potato’s profound impact on culture

The potato was the first root crop to become basic to a civilization: the Incas. Although the Incas also produced maize, cotton and llama wool, and had sophisticated irrigation, food processing and storage technologies, they depended on the potato’s ability to thrive in every arable corner of the harsh high Andes region of South America.

A field of root crops feeds more people than an equivalent field of wheat. Though nourishing, roots provide less protein and more starch than do grains. Being bulkier, they are also more expensive to transport. Therefore, such crops tend to be local foods eaten by the poor.

These characteristics were to change European diets and history profoundly. The Spanish brought the potato plant to Europe in the sixteenth century, and its use is recorded in southern Europe in the following two centuries. But it was not until the eighteenth century that demography and science intervened to propel the humble tuber onto the tables of northern Europe. At about the same time that population pressures were increasing the demand for food, breeders finally developed early-ripening potato varieties that did well in northern growing conditions.

In the opinion of the German writer Günter Grass, the potato, because it can be grown quickly and cheaply, liberated the masses from hunger, resulted in the development of a sturdier working class and released more people from farm work for nineteenth century factories. The factories led to the development of a strong labouring class, which democratized Europe, he believes.

On the other hand, the cultural impact of the potato on Ireland when it became a staple in the eighteenth century generated controversy. While the crop was lauded for protecting the poor from hunger, critics argued that it had also impoverished the Irish by driving up the population, from three million to eight million in less than a century, thereby forcing down wages. Some even criticized the potato as “mere” food, primitive and lacking any cultural resonance, compared to wheat, which must be harvested, threshed, milled, made into dough, kneaded and baked into a loaf with all its civilized connotations and religious symbolism.

Ironically, when blight destroyed the Irish potato crop in 1845 - causing famine because people depended on one crop for their survival - scientists eventually had to return to the Andes for a variety that was resistant to the disease.

Interdependency on genetic resources continues to be very strong among all the regions and countries in the world. Dialogue among different cultures is necessary to maintain, exchange and utilize these resources and related information for food security and sustainable agriculture, today and in the future.