Can AI help reduce food poverty ?

Farming dominates the ?use of land and water by humans. Cities and settlements combined up take up only about 1% of land while farming worldwide takes up 38% of the total land area and consumes 70% of the accessible fresh water. The rest of the land is forests, mountains, deserts or is ice covered. Of that 38% of land used for farming, only 12% is used for growing crops and 26 % is used for pasture for growing meat such as sheep goats and cows. If we focus for the moment just on crop farming, it may be surprising to learn that humans get about 60% of their calories from just 4 crops, corn, wheat, rice and soya (although, as a later article will describe, AI is now showing that there alternative more sustainable solutions that can provide similar nutrients and sustenance).

?Four major global food companies, between them, control around 90% of the Global grain trade, buying and selling grain around the world as needed. Fertilizers too, are produced and sold as part of the global trade. This leaves many parts of the developing world at the mercy of international fluctuations in prices and possible shortages. A recent example of this was when the Ukraine - Russia conflict disrupted both grain and fertilizer supplies and increased their costs significantly to the countries reliant on such imports to supplement home grown food production.

?Farming influences both climate change and affects the global water supply.? In the industrialized countries AI is now beginning to provide solutions in farming by identifying better, more sustainable ways to produce nutrients but the problem is very different in the developing world. There, agriculture often performs the backbone of the economy and is the dominant sources of food and income for subsistence farmers.? If we can enhance crop yields, reduce pest infestations etc. farmers and governments can play a crucial role in reducing poverty, in improving the economies of their countries and in feeding their own populations making them less dependent on imported foods and fertilizers which are often subject to wild fluctuations in prices.

James Lovelock in his original work on Gaia Theory in the 1970s argued that the Earth is a living self-regulating ecosystem where climate, water cycle, forests, soil and wildlife are all interrelated and that we need to be conscious of the ecosystem and the diversity of species to create a better and more sustainable world. More recent research has shown strong evidence that such inter- reliance exists.? Soil and the ecosystem is a biological structure where bacteria in the soil use carbon to make microscopic capsules around the roots to feed the plants and the plants in return, convert sunlight to grow bigger and to create sugars to feed the microbes. Intensive agriculture / overuse of land destroys the natural ecosystem and the symbiotic relationship of soil with plants resulting in depletion of key minerals in the soil and its degradation. This then leads to the need to use of ever- increasing amounts of fertilizers and water having to be added to the soil just to maintain crop yields from such degraded soil. As more and more fertilizers are used, any excess not absorbed by the soil runs off into rivers and eventually into the seas causing pollution and affecting or even destroying the wildlife and their natural habitats.? If the soil becomes too degraded, less vegetation grows with roots to bind the soil, allowing droughts and winds to blow away the topsoil. This causes Dust Bowl effects where the remaining ground cannot grow anything and increases desertification of the land.

?So what can governments and farmers do to encourage? and adopt? AI? technologies to address food security and more importantly promote sustainable farming ?? The main areas where government researchers / entrepreneurs and farmers can intervene are as follows

1.???? Reducing Water Use

2.???? Enhancing Crop Yields

3.???? Reducing Pests and Diseases

4.???? Data Collection and Management

5.???? Education and Capacity Building

6.???? Financial Support and Incentives

7.???? Adopt Sustainable Practices

?Governments , research institutes and entrepreneurs in the smarter developing countries? who recognise the potential benefits of AI are already applying AI enhanced solutions and interventions in these areas to improve agricultural yields . All countries and their governments need to explore whether any of these solutions could be used and to encourage? or even incentivise replication and application of such solutions. Entrepreneurs need to recognie that there may be opportunities for them to either import, or even better , to develop local ,cheaper versions of such AI technologies for application in their own countries. Farmers need to be willing to experiment and to learn how farmers in other countries are increasing their crop yields and increasing their incomes, despite using less pesticides, fertilizers and water.?

?Future articles will look in more? depth at each of the above 7 areas where important AI innovations are helping farmers in the developing world to increase crop yields at lower cost and hence reducing poverty and improving economies in their countries.

?These articles on AI impacts are being brought to you by Global-AI Solutions ( https://global-ai.solutons ) which has? been established to provide guidance on AI issues to? businesses , programmers , unemployed graduates , knowledge workers and individuals.? Books are downloadable free from the website in? 31 languages making the information accessible to over 6 Billon people around the world . We encourage readers to go to that website and download a relevant book? so that they can learn how to harness the available AI tools so that they can thrive in the coming AI Tsunami that will hit ?every country in the next few years. People who learn to use and develop AI ?tools can join a new well paid profession as a member of the International Association of AI- agent Developers (IAAD) https://iaadai-agent.org

??Anyone interested in helping us spread AI awareness in their country is welcome to contact me to see how we might cooperate to make sure your country is not left behind in the AI era?

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Alan / lk/07

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