Editorial

Human population is expected to reach about 9 billion people by 2050. This growth poses challenges of increasing food production by 70%, but using fewer resources such as water, soil and environmental services. The challenge for global agricultural research requires bringing a sense of urgency to our work to develop technological tools, combined with public and private policies of integrated rural development, to ensure that food production and industrial development is achieved simultaneously with strategies for environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Investment in innovation in agriculture in countries with transition economies (where many Latin American countries are moving into) is a way to accelerate the adoption of more efficient production practices in the use of soil, water, financial and social capital, and promote the conservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. Innovation, conceived in terms of indicators of competitiveness and efficiency, will prepare the region for the many challenges and opportunities we face in the globalization of the economy, and thus achieve the milestones set for poverty reduction in the region.

Colombia is one of the largest producers and consumers of brown sugar (panela), and some papers in this issue bring up results that show the development of new technologies that aim to reduce the environmental impact of traditional panela production systems, and efficiency gains to contribute to competitiveness and environmental sustainability. Moreover, the effects of amendments derived from the processing of sugar cane on the physicochemical properties of sulfated acid soils are presented, aiming at making this rural activity a more efficient process, analyzed both in terms of production of sugar cane and processing and transformation into panela.

In the same line of environmental research, the process of creating a value chain of honey and its derivatives is analyzed. The beekeeping industry is another family rural industry, that when linked to appropriate market channels, represents an alternative that promotes the economic use of ecosystem services. The per capita consumption of honey in the world varies widely, being between 1.2 and 1.8 kg/year in the top consumer countries. Honey is consumed both directly and as part of several products (cereals, bakery, beverages, etc.). However, beekeeping is facing multiple threats from the toxicity of chemicals, bee diseases, expansion of agriculture based on monoculture and reduced forage areas for bees. All of these challenges demand a serious research effort.

Globally, livestock production is facing major challenges to reduce the negative effects on the environment associated with inefficient production of meat and dairy products. Advances in research aimed at developing decision-making tools are essential to modernize tropical agriculture and promote rural development. Fodder production and, in general, selection of feedstock for livestock is factor that might have economic and environmental impact; therefore, tools for selecting forages for different agro-ecological zones are needed to reduce the level of uncertainty in the selection of appropriate fodder for different regions. In this line of livestock research, the process of creating gene bank as a stepping-stone for a breeding program of Criollo cattle, seeks to increase productivity, and adds elements that will improve the competitiveness of the livestock sector in Colombia through improving animal breeding. Colombia as well as many other countries in the region, has great potential to develop an environmentally sustainable livestock industry, and Corpoica’s breeding program provides technologies that contribute to achieving this goal.

Among the limiting factors for adoption of livestock technologies by producers, training, reciprocity and organizational skills (social capital) and financial planning (financial capital) were found to be the most relevant ones. The results of a socioeconomic characterization of a production area in Northern Colombia indicate that production systems had undergone changes over more than a decade. These changes occurred due to both environmental effects as well as effects of dynamic markets; in response, the research shows that the community diversified its production looking for income generation and not just self consumption.

The development of postharvest technologies in tropical fruits is reflected in the application of noninvasive methods to determine the point of physiological maturity of gulupa, to enhance product acceptance by consumers at domestic and international markets; which is expected to reduces rejects, creates efficiency at harvesting and selection of fruits for the market associated with the nutritional quality of the product reaching the consumers. Research on germination processes in two species of papayuelas (Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis and Vasconcellea goudotiana) provides new knowledge for future breeding programs and use of this species in tropical agriculture.

Alonso González Mejía
Director
Revista Corpoica Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria