Tuesday July 7, 2009, 6:30 am
The first, projecting 10 years into the future from last year's food crisis, which saw the price of food soar, says that there is plenty of unused, fertile land available to grow more crops.

"Some 1.6 billion hectares could be added to the current 1.4 billion hectares of crop land [in the world], and over half of the additionally available land is found in Africa and Latin America," concludes the report, compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

If further evidence were needed, it comes in a second report, launched jointly by the FAO and the World Bank. It concludes that 400 million hectares, straddling 25 African countries, are suitable for farming.

Models for producing new crop land already exist in Thailand, where land originally deemed agriculturally unpromising, due to irrigation problems and infertile soil, has been transformed into a cornucopia by smallholder farmers.

As in Thailand, future success will come by using agriculture to lift Africa's smallholder farmers out of poverty, aided by strong government measures to guarantee their rights to land, say both reports.

Tuesday July 7, 2009, 6:42 am
Look, -- a good news story!! -- or is it???

cowboss

Tuesday July 7, 2009, 7:35 am
I think they have lost far too much wild habitat and forests as it is... This would worsen the ecosystem... lets not get sucked in to the vortex of one country can feed the world... several countries are already buying up huge tracts of land for agriculture, messing up the ecosystems, destroying forests as it is... :( ... Thanks Cowboss.

Tuesday July 7, 2009, 1:38 pm
Hope it is true. I have read way too much about the desertification of Africa.

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 8:00 am
These scientists are apparently only thinking of the human species. How much wildlife habitat would have to be destroyed to render it into arable land? Wouldn't the constant wars in Africa continue to disrupt agricultural production like it does already? So these scientists have no inter-disciplinary training. They are ignoring the needs of wildlife for habitat and they are ignoring political realities. Frances

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 8:46 am
We are the most important life form on the planet...in our eyes alone. To the rest of the lifeforms, we are the most horrible, habitat-consuming presence on this earth. Due to our extraordinary vision of ourselves as supreme beings, top of the food chain, the only lifeforms created by God in his image and therefore the only ones who count, we are in the process of destroying all life on earth. This story is just another indication of our pomposity, our arrogance, our stupidity. No, this is not a good story. But, thanks anyway, cowboss.

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 10:33 am

Where's the author information for this "article?"

As if 6 billion humans haven't done enough ecological damage as it is...

This is almost encouragement for additional irresponsible overpopulation and refusal to allow natural processes to operate properly (ie, Mother Nature's natural culls). Humans aren't the only creatures on this planet; will the world be turned into a giant farm for things we eat? What about the rest of the species on this planet?

6 billion humans is MORE than plenty. It's the other species I'm worried about, not redundant humans.

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 12:19 pm
I agree, this article should NOT be considered good news, just more fodder for the anthropocentric world views.

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 12:56 pm
I also agree Ev T. "this article should NOT be considered good news, just more fodder for the anthropocentric world views."

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 1:09 pm
But first Africa must learn to feed its own people.

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 2:05 pm
We have enough food right now , the problem is that corporations are using a vast amount of it to produce junk food and bio fuels .
I think these scientists didn`t take into account all the regions in Africa that have been having terrible droughts -some of them last for years- which last time I checked were in part responsible for the hunger they suffer. I also think this article is misleading .
Maybe we could feed Africa in it`s entirety with all the junk food the U.S produces alone --- 8)

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 4:15 pm
This was a very short article. Not much there. I didn't think that it was all that scientific

Wednesday July 8, 2009, 5:11 pm
they would probably just biofuel crops and destroy more habitats

Thursday July 9, 2009, 5:45 am
I totally agree with Rooibos Bird!

Thursday July 9, 2009, 8:23 am

The thing is...South Africa and the former Rhodesia were considered "the bread basket of Africa" adequately feeding many on and off the continent. Robert Mugabe's dictatorial tribalist/racist policies recked Zimbabwe's ability to produce food as it once did. Even South Africa is now importing more than it ever it, which is shocking to me.

The (mis)use of water, damming of rivers and waterways, and pollution have been Africa's number one problem. Now it will be deforestation, human overpopulation, and the extermination of other species for the bushmeat trade.

The posted article is suspect to me, and I've been researching the website as well. Quite frankly, I'm disturbed that such an overly-emotive-laden piece, the way it was penned, was permitted. With no author credited, I find it even more ironic and suspect.

What's it going to take for our so-called (*cough, choke*) "superior" species to realize that we aren't, we've bungled, and all our self-proclaimed quick-fixes to patch up our damage will not work in the end? Changing our own behaviours now, today, each of us, will though. Living however we wish with no thought as to consequences and leaving the fixes for scientists to figure out was never an option, only the provence of deluded societies living in denial.