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> EDITORIAL   IRRIGATION MAGAZINE Irrigazette n°105 - Int° Irrigation Magazine What Role for Tomorrow’s Agriculture? Feeding the population will be one of the main challenges over the coming years. The sudden rise in the price of cereals in 2007 is really nothing short of sensational. In one year the price index of the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, has shot up by almost 36% and, bearing in mind the economic growth of the developing countries, there is every indication that this phenomenon will continue. The world population is due to increase from 6.5 billion today to around 9 billion in the second half of the century. This goes to prove that we are certainly not going to see any drop in demand. By the same token, supply is being cut back. As a result of drought risks and other climatic hazards, harvests have often been poor in a number of the world’s granaries, such as Ukraine and Australia. Europe, which in bygone days was collapsing un­der its grain mountain, will have to import 15 mil­­lion tonnes of cereals this year. That’s a record! For its part, the rise in petrol prices has made bio fuels more and more attractive, diverting these basic or essential products from their prime role as a food crop. Demographic pressure, economic growth, global warming, to these three causes a fourth equally important factor can be added: the mistakes in the policies adopted up to now. For twenty years the people in charge have all but forgotten agriculture. Only 4% of public aid goes to agriculture in the developing countries. The World Bank recognised that agricultural growth and thus poverty reduction depends on public investment in rural infrastructures, particularly irrigation, and as a direct consequence, water resources. In fact, even though an increase in irrigation is essential, given the scarcity of water, the aim is to reduce the amount of water used. That is why it is important to implement the adapted technologies that our profession has been endeavouring to introduce for several years. Nevertheless, with water being an essential element, most countries are dedicated to the development of water saving measures, such as the recycling of waste water, the desalination of sea water and rainwater harvesting. Nowadays it is widely accepted that irrigation is and will continue to be a key factor in guaranteeing the efficiency and security of world food production. At the dawn of the twenty-first Century agriculture has, therefore, once again become a major issue for mankind and thus irrigation is a factor that cannot be overlooked. Publisher / Managing Editor Françoise THUILLIER Tél.: 33.(0)4.42.92.00.06 Fax: 33.(0)4.42.92.17.80 info@irrigazette.com Published by E.U.R.L. IRRIGAZETTE Capital of 50000F Powered by G2MS

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