Modern biotechnologies and the intensification of productivity would be key to meeting the world’s future food demands, while keeping climate change threats at bay, said agriculture economist Rick Tolman on Friday.

Speaking to journalists at the US Embassy in Pretoria, Tolman said about 55% of the earth’s soil had already been converted into agricultural land. “It is important to intensify the production process to increase output to meet the demand for food, rather than converting additional soil into agricultural land, as this will increase the dangers of climate change on the planet.”

Agriculture is believed to contribute to climate change, primarily through the production and release of greenhouse-gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, but also by altering the earth's land cover. But, Tolman said that modern agriculture and education could play a vital role in mitigating these effects.

He said that land was often not used optimally, which was one of Africa’s biggest agriculture challenges.

Tolman also said that it was important for farmers to move up the value chain. “For instance, South Africa produces soya beans but imports soy oil.”

He believed that South Africa, while identified by the US as a technical farming expert on the continent, still had a lot of opportunities to tap into, such as making use of large-scale ethanol energy.

The development of ethanol had significantly changed the US landscape in the past five years and ethanol now provides 10% of the country’s fuel supply.

More than 200 ethanol plants have been constructed, stimulating rural development and creating employment, two things greatly needed in South Africa.

Ethanol also emits 56% less GHGs than oil and is cheaper, Tolman said.

He added that as a rule of thumb, it was economically viable to produce ethanol when the oil price was at around $80/bl.

However, ethanol production eats into about 40% of the US’s corn production, raising the question of food security.

But, Tolman said that technologies were advancing all the time and that waste material was also increasingly being used to produce fuel.

“If some of these technological hurdles can be overcome, South Africa and also other African countries are well positioned to take advantage of ethanol and other opportunities,” he added.