Agricultural production has become more complex in recent times. Firstly, an increasing quantity of food – including oils and fats – has to be produced to feed the spiralling world population. Expanding crop production requires arable land to be opened up for cultivation, leading to pressure from competing demands for use of the land.

Secondly, sustainable land management is required to ensure that scarce resources can be used on continuous basis. Much arable land is lost through unsustainable use, resulting in soil degradation from erosion and desertification.

The use of fossil fuels in the transport, industrial and building sectors is the prime source of anthropogenic GHG emissions. According to IPCC (2007), emission from this source alone is 56.6% of the total GHG CO2 equivalent load.

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