Agricultural Innovation for Societal Change

Auteur

Emeritus Professor Bo Malte Ingvar Bengtsson has been engaged in international agricultural research and development activities since graduation in the mid-1960s. Then, he acquired a Diploma in Tropical Agriculture at the University of the West Indies, worked in a rural development project in Ethiopia followed by other development assistance activities. After his PhD he served more than fifteen years as a Research Officer and Director General of an independent Swedish agency for granting science aid to developing countries. He has been a member of several Swedish government committees and boards and attended all major international agricultural conferences. From 1992 he was Professor in international cropping systems at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, continuing with internationally oriented activities, for example, serving as Chairman of new CGIAR Board to establish an international center for forestry research: CIFOR. He has led the Swedish delegations to the CGIAR, been a member of the CGIAR System Review secretariat and been a member of a Review Panel on CGIAR Board Performance. He has participated in other international panels and served as member and Chairman of international boards (ISNAR, ICRAF, ICIPE, CATIE, AERC, the Keystone Centre, CIFOR, ICRISAT and BIO-EARN). He has served on FAO committees and as advisor to FAO's Director General on strategy and response to the Millennium Development Goals. He was a member of the United Nation Task Force on Hunger and the FAO High-Level External Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Texte du rabat

"Over centuries, agriculture has developed through technological steps illustrated by previous agricultural revolutions. This book describes and analyses agricultural changes since the mid-1960s in the context of innovation development and their adoption by re-visited resource-poor farmers in Ethiopia, Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago and overall development changes up to the early 2020s. This is a platform for a discussion of current issues for future global food security during globalization and free global trade. This has given economic growth in many countries but also environmental concerns and a rapid increase in transnational corporations (TNCs). Sustainable food production has been agreed as a priority: ecological footprints must be reduced and the book provides examples of possible technical changes. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is insufficient as political attention must also be given to declining biodiversity, the increasing global exploration of natural resources, demography, increased consumption, waste mountains and expanding migration and antibiotic resistance. This requires a gradual societal change based on biological fundamentals for sustainability, leading towards the next agricultural revolution. Agribusiness TNCs will challenge national governments and international donors in both research and development, increasing competition for leadership"--