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.Paragraph 1______

A.The Same orImproved Food Supply Situation in 2020

B.Research Focuseson Increased Yield

C.More ResearchFunding Needed

D.Local SituationsAnalyzed

E.Increase in Investmenton Agricultural Research