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Hunger Hides: Here and There 'Sustaining' - the meaning varies The glimpse of the IFPRI estimates show some facts evident for the imbalance of agricultural growth in the developing countries and developed countries. The growth of farmers' yields is slowing in both the developed and developing countries from the heyday of the Green Revolution in the 1970s. The appraisal also states that about 98 per cent increase in world population between 1995 and 2020 will occur in the developing countries. The absolute population increase will be largest in Asia (1.1 billion) and the relative increase will be highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (80 per cent). By 2020, the developing countries as a group are forecast to demand twice as much cereals and meat products as developed countries, but at the same time, a person of developing country will consume less than half the amount of cereals consumed by a person of developed country and slightly more than one-third of the meat products. The crisis will be more as the cereal production in the developing world will not keep pace with the demand. About 60 per cent of the developing world's net cereal imports in 2020 will come from the United States. Special mention has been given in the estimate of IFPRI as Sub-Saharan Africa will be the only region where the number of malnourished children is forecast to increase and South Asia will remain the "hot spots" of child malnutrition and food security. The above statements show that the meaning of 'sustainable development' varies from one country to another as the parameters of development are different.  Hunger in India In this year, we have got the billionth baby. Are we proud of this fact? Just have a second thought. The country's grocery list for 2030 will need to feed 1.3 billion people, the population is growing at the rate of 1.8 per cent per year. And to supply food for all India has to produce food 'at an accelerated pace' adding four to five million tonnes of foodgrain alone every year. But the production of the nutritionally superior grains such as coarse cereals and pulses has been extremely uneven over the last several years. It must have an adverse implication for the country's nutritional security. One-third of the population living below the poverty line is afflicted with wide-spread protein deficiency and malnutrition. Coarse cereals and pulses are known cheap sources of protein for the common man, but for 1990s, the per capita availability of both declined consistently. From 1989-'90 to 1998-'99, while the overall annual growth rate of foodgrains production was low at 1.8 per cent, equal to population growth and that of pulses was even lower at 1.2 per cent only. The production of coarse grains did not grow at all (-0.5 per cent). The situation might be deteriorated further because of shrinkage of arable and depletion of natural resources, none of which is conducive to agricultural development. Action is required to identify solutions for meeting future world food needs while reducing poverty and protecting the environment. This has created a window of opportunity for providing the needed knowledge resources for agriculture. The accurate evaluation and estimation, sufficient or latest information is required for timely solutions for increased productivity. One of the basic information that is not available is the cultivated area that could keep the planners well-informed of the further harvest, and prepared for food crisis in advance. Management of land with sustainable agricultural practices and methods admixed with modern techniques would help in increasing productivity and to combat with the hunger problem. Thinking in the track of GIS The latest decades witnessed revolutionary changes in the approaches related to spatial problems because of incredible progress in automation and computer technology especially with the introduction of modern Geographic Information System (GIS). The availability of powerful computers, sensors, and controller technology, and the installation of GPS for agricultural equipment has provided new ways to measure and manage variability within production fields. It is a powerful tool for sorting, retrieving, analysing and integrating spatial and non-spatial geographic data apart from drawing any kind of maps. The development of spatial statistical techniques has been accelerated parallel to this rapid growth of GIS technologies and there is a need to integrate the GIS and spatial statistical techniques in the field of agriculture. In today's competitive market, obtaining the optimum crop yield is critical to the success of farming. Yield mapping systems can help farmers identify spatial variations in yield and net returns. Determining the factors that influence yield requires information such as soil maps, topography, and periodic field observations of the growth and status throughout the year. Remote sensing has been advanced as a technology that can help fill in the gaps and enable farmers to better realize the potential of "precision farming" which means knowing and responding to the specific conditions of the field. This crop insights will review the concepts of remote sensing and the potential for remote sensing tools to improve crop management. |