Farming First » yields

New Salt Tolerant Wheat Offers Farmers Higher Yields in Saline Soils

Editor — Wed, 26 May 2010 08:00:27 +0000

CSIRO, Australia’s national science research agency, have achieved a major breakthrough for wheat farmers in salt-affected areas through developing a salt-tolerant durum wheat that yields 25 per cent more grain than other varieties in saline soils.

High soil salinity is a major environmental issue whose effects can cause difficulties for farmers growing crops in salt-affected areas. Most crops do not grow well on soils that contain salts and subsequently farmers lose large amounts of yield.

The CSIRO research team used traditional breeding techniques, involving molecular markers, to introduce salt tolerant genes into durum wheat lines. The salt tolerant genes work by limiting the passage of sodium from the roots to the shoots of the plant, preventing its passage to the leaves where it can be toxic to the plant.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, 17 million hectares of durum wheat are cultivated worldwide, with 60 per cent of cultivation taking place in developing counties in regions including the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America and central India.

This new variety will allow wheat farmers to cope with high salinity levels in the soil and achieve higher yields of their crop. The scientists have said they will make the enhanced durum wheat freely available to the developing world.

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FAO Warns that World Food Output Must Rise by 70%

Editor — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:14:50 +0000

A recent announcement by the FAO states that world food output must rise by 70% by 2050 to meet projected demand from a growing population and changing diets.

Global cereal demand must increase by about 50%, from 2.1 billion tonnes today to 3 billion tonnes by 205. Over the same period, meat output must increase by almost 75% by 2050 to 470 million tonnes.

A massive 90% of the needed output is expected to come from higher yields, but the area of land under cultivation is also expected to grow by 120 million hectares. These increases are most likely to occur in developing regions with large supplies of land per capita, such as sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

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Improving Yields in Zambia through Conservation Agriculture

Editor — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:49:25 +0000

In many countries where soil has been degraded or where farmers face difficult conditions, conservation agriculture has also been shown to improve yields through improved soil quality.

For example, in Zambia, a sample of 125 hand-hoe farmers using conservation farming in areas where land had been degraded was found to produce 1.5 tonnes more maize and 460 kg more cotton per hectare than did farmers practicing conventional ox-plough tillage.

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Improving Yields through Better Access to Seeds and Pesticides

Editor — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:44:33 +0000

GM crops and crop protection products can help increase yields by limiting losses.

Since 1996, the average yield impact across the total global area planted with insect resistant traits over the 11 year period has been +5.7 percent for corn traits (or an added 47 million tonnes of corn) and +11.1 percent for cotton traits (or an added 4.9 million tonnes).

In some countries, the benefits can be much higher, such as in India, where yields from cotton have increased by 54%.

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