Background
Agriculture is the indispensable base of human society and the nature and productivity of agriculture is determined by land, water, climate, management and agricultural research. Only 29% of the earth’s surface is land and only a little over a third of that is suitable for agriculture; the rest is ice, desert, forest or mountain and is unsuitable for farming. More simply stated, only 10% of the surface of the earth has topographical and climatic conditions suitable for producing the food requirements of human beings. Today, 75% of the world’s 6.6 billion people live in the developing world where most of the world’s existing poverty is concentrated.