OSLO, March 8 (Reuters) - Many farmers in developing nations can
double food production within a decade by shifting to ecological
agriculture from use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, a
U.N. report showed on Tuesday. Ducks weeding Rice Paddies
Insect-trapping plants in Kenya and Bangladesh's use of ducks to
eat weeds in rice paddies are among examples of steps taken to
increase food for a world population that the United Nations
says will be 7 billion this year and 9 billion by 2050.
"Agriculture is at a crossroads," according to the study by
Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to
food, in a drive to depress record food prices and avoid the
costly oil-dependent model of industrial farming. "Agroecology"
could also make farms more resilient to the projected impact of
climate change including floods, droughts and a rise in sea
levels that the report said was already making fresh water near
some coasts too salty for use in irrigation. So far, eco-farming
projects in 57 nations ha