Crop and Natural Resource Management Strategies to Foster Sustainable Wheat Production in Developing Countries

Abstract

Several emerging economic trends will influence how developing countries choose to meet their growing demand for wheat in the coming decades. These trends include the greater integration of the global food economy, the shift away from self-sufficiency in food production and towards comparative advantage, and increasing urbanization. Under these circumstances, if developing countries are to meet even part of their rapidly growing demand for wheat, farmers will need alternative crop and natural resource management strategies to sustain the productivity and profitability of wheat cropping and also to sustain the natural resource base. This paper reviews new crop and resource management initiatives under development by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to foster tile sustainable intensification of agriculture in appropriate ways in favored and marginal wheat production areas. These include: practices to reduce the use of inputs, especially nitrogen and water, in favorable production environments; various new tillage options to reduce input use and resource degradation in South Asia's rice-wheat cropping systems; rotations, tillage recommendations, and other practices to improve soil fertility in more marginal production environments in Africa and Latin America; and crop management options for increasing the competitiveness of wheat production in Central Asia.