More,Rural ResearchIs Needed 1 Agricultural research funding is vital if the world is to feeditself better than it does now.Dr.Tony Fischer,crop scientist,said demand was

growing at 2.5% peryear,but with modern technologies and the development of new ones,the worldshould be able to stay ahead. 2 "The global decline in investment in

internationalagricultural research must be rwersed if significant progress is to be madetowards reducing malnutrition and poverty,"he said. 3 Research is neededto solve

food production,landdegradation and environmental problems.Secure local food supplies led toeconomic growth which,in turn,slowed population growth.Dr.Fischer painted

a picture of theworld's ability to feed itself in the first 25 years,when the world'spopulation is expected to rise from 5.8 to 8 billion people.He said that thingswill probably

hold or improve butthere'll still be a lot of hungry people.The biggest concentration of poor andhungry people would be in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asiain

2020,similar to thecurrent pattern.If there is any change,a slight improvement will be seen insouthern Asia,but not in sub-SaharanAfrica.The major improvement will be in

East Asia,SouthAmerica and South一EastAsia. 4 The developing world was investing about 0.5%,or $8 billion a year,ofits agricultural gross domestic product(GDP)on

research,and thedeveloped world was spending 2.5%of its GDP.Dr.Fischer said more was neededfrom all countries. 5 He said crop research could produce technologies that

spread across manycountries,such as wheat roduction research having spin-offs for Mexico,Chinaor India.6 "Technologies still need to be refined for the local conditions

but a lot of thestrategic research can ave global application,so that money can be used veryefficiently,"Dr.Fischer said. 7 Yields of rice,wheat and maize have grown

impressively in thepast 30 years,especially in developing countries.For example,maize productionrose from 2-8 tonnes per hectare between 1950 and 1995.But technologies

driving thisgrowth,such as high-yield varieties,fertilisers,and irrigation,were becomingexhausted."If you want to save the land for non-agriculturalactivities,for forests and

wildlife, you'regoing to have to increase yield,"Dr.Fischer said.The investment canbe regarded as efficient______.

A.if we can driveyield up

B.when Mexico,Chinaand Indiajoin in the project

C.if we want tofight against malnutrition and poverty

D.when we use moderntechnologies and develop new ones

E.when the developedworld helps the developing world