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KATHMANDU, APRIL 21
Hunger is a daily and bitter experience for many people in less developed countries.
It has been estimated that more than 1,000 million people in these countries are affected by chronic malnutrition and undernourishment.
Not only is this, more than 40 million people starve to death every year.
Food supply and demand continue to be of great importance in the world, where almost half of the total population lives in countries that have a low per capita income that will not buy them the needed food and other necessities.
In these countries, most families allocate 50 to 70 percent of their income to the acquisition of food.
The rural people in these countries constitute 60 to 90 percent of their total population.
As a rural labour force, they are a key potential resource for greater food production and are in the greatest need of more and better food.
However, their low agricultural productivity is at the heart of the supply side of the world food problem.
In fact, the most important input for agricultural production is land. However, the situation is most critical for small landholders, whose percentage is high in less developed countries.
According to an FAO estimate, about 1000 million rural people are either landless or have little land to cultivate.
This is why the search for better crops is very significant.
Generally, a crop is better for the producers if it is more profitable to grow.
In addition to the search for better crops, modern farming techniques play an important role in boosting agricultural products.
For example, due to the adoption of modern cultivation methods, the people of the Gulf countries have been able to turn a greater part of desert sand into farmland.
Nowadays, some of them are producing a variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the year.
In the United Arab Emirates also, a system of continuous education for farmers has been provided with the help of more than 2,000 model farms.
So successful has this system been that this country has been able to export vegetables to other countries.
Although Nepal is predominantly an agricultural country, it has been importing agricultural products from other countries since the past few decades.
To be self-reliant in such products, it is indispensable to adopt modern farming techniques throughout this country, for which the concerned authorities should pay attention to this fact as soon as possible. Traditional farming will make no sense.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 22, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
