What is Agrobiodiversity?
▻http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5609e/y5609e02.htm
100 YEARS OF AGRICULTURAL CHANGE: SOME TRENDS AND FIGURES RELATED TO AGROBIODIVERSITY
– Since the 1900s, some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers worldwide have left their multiple local varieties and landraces for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties.
- 30 percent of livestock breeds are at risk of extinction; six breeds are lost each month.
– Today, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species.
– Of the 4 percent of the 250 000 to 300 000 known edible plant species, only 150 to 200 are used by humans. Only three - rice, maize and wheat - contribute nearly 60 percent of calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants.
– Animals provide some 30 percent of human requirements for food and agriculture and 12 percent of the world’s population live almost entirely on products from ruminants.
Source: FAO. 1999b