Agricultural Research Cuts Threaten Food Supplies

Some cheery Sunday morning reading from the Times, showing the perils of short-term thinking when it comes to staying ahead of agricultural pests:

The damage to rice crops, occurring at a time of scarcity and high prices, could have been prevented. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute [in the Phillippines] say that they know how to create rice varieties resistant to the [brown rice hopper] but that budget cuts have prevented them from doing so.

This is a stark example of the many problems that are coming to light in the world’s agricultural system. Experts say that during the food surpluses of recent decades, governments and development agencies lost focus on the importance of helping poor countries improve their agriculture.

The budgets of institutions that delivered the world from famine in the 1970s, including the rice institute, have stagnated or fallen, even as the problems they were trying to solve became harder.

It’s a depressing story not only because of the “millions will die” vibe of the whole thing, but because it’s so depressingly typical. When things appear to be going well, the first thing that gets cut is the basic research that will be needed to keep things going well down the road.

The article focuses on direct government aid to researchers in poor countries, and doesn’t talk about any private research funding. I doubt that the story is any better there, though, because private agricultural research has mostly focused on improving crops grown in rich countries, because that’s where the money is. And, of course, widespread and stupid protests against genetic modification of crops can’t be helping, either.