Can agriculture cope with the challenges of the 21st century? Will there be enough food to feed the world? Do rural producers in developing countries have a future?

In 2005, the World Bank and a number of UN organisations started an independent multistakeholder and multidisciplinary process to assess the sustainability of agriculture. More than 400 scientists and representatives of producer and consumer organisations, civil society, agro-industry and governments participated, many of them from developing countries. The IAASTD (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development) was chaired by Hans Herren (Switzerland), who won the World Food Price in 1995, and the Kenyan scientist Judi Wakhungu.

The Synthesis Report looked at eight themes of critical interest: bioenergy, biotechnology, climate change, human health; natural resource management; trade and markets; traditional and local knowledge and communitybased innovation; and women in agriculture. The report concludes that two third of the world can not embark on a path of industrialised agriculture. Agriculture is a complex undertaking with multifunctional outcomes. The contribution of rural producers, of which an increasing proportion is female, to the protection of ecosystems should be recognised and compensated.

The executive summary of the synthesis report is available under
http://www.agassessment.org/docs/SR_Exec_Sum_210408_Final.htm.

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