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Implications of Weeds and Weed Management on Food Security and Safety In The Asia-Pacific Region

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/7704/
http://apwss2013.com/
 
Title Implications of Weeds and Weed Management on Food Security and Safety In The Asia-Pacific Region
 
Creator Yaduraju, N T
Rao, A N
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description The food price crisis of 2007 and 2008 caused widespread food shortages and
food and nutrition insecurity the world over. Home to the largest number of poor and
undernourished people in the world, the Asia and Pacific region (APR) was at the epicenter of
the crisis and was hit extremely hard. Although food prices have eased since then, recent
studies indicate that food prices will remain high and volatile in the future. Reducing the
existing large crops yield gaps is one of the appropriate approaches to meet the growing
regional food security demands. Crop yield gap reduction is possible by optimizing crop
productivity through identification and alleviation of major impediments such as weeds,
which are more adapted to wide range of environments. Weeds continue to cause yield losses
ranging from 10 to 60% depending on the crop and associated environment. Appropriate
weed management has the potential to ensure food security by enhancing productivity and
increasing profitability of farmers by cutting costs. Judicious selection, integration and proper
application of herbicides will guarantee consumers the safety of foods they consume.
However, impact of globalization, climate change, genetically modified crops and other
recent trends, also have an impact on weeds and weed management. Severe labour scarcity,
shortage of water for agriculture, emphasis on organic and conservation agriculture, are
redefining the way we address weed problem. The solutions adopted by the developed
countries may not suit the vast majority of the countries in the APR. It is time to evolve
APR’s own strategies and approaches. Besides these technological challenges, APR countries
have to grapple with the problems of different sort such as the ignorance of vast majority of
farmers about the weed problem, the inadequate capacity of the extension personnel and the
insensitive administrators and policy makers. The weed scientists in APR countries have a
daunting job at their hands to deal with this multitude of problems. Optimal weed
management solutions, to meet the food security and safety needs, could be evolved from
networking and collaboration with weed scientists from the developed countries in the region
as well as from the other parts of the world.
 
Date 2013
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/7704/1/YadurajuRao2013APWSS.pdf
Yaduraju, N T and Rao, A N (2013) Implications of Weeds and Weed Management on Food Security and Safety In The Asia-Pacific Region. In: 24th Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society Conference, 22-25 October, 2013, Bandung, Indonesia.