Dear Colleagues,
An IFOAM book, as attached FYA extensively addresses all the 3 Qs of this discussion, 'Producers who follow their Agro ecology' are sustainable in the long term. The focus is on the poor producer communities (over 50% of the population all over the world do not have the money) who are prone to food and nutrition insecurity as they do not have access to own requirements of nutritious food, but who feed more than 80% of the world’s population, link at:
http://www.ifoam-eu.org/sites/default/files/ifoameu_policy_ffe_feedingthepeople.pdf
Food and nutrition insecurity resulted from a globally dysfunctional conventional green revolution agro-food system. The book addresses the question of how the poor producer communities need to be supported and funded to manage the conversion from high risk high cost conventional green revolution/ GMO (environmentally destructive, energy and agro chemical intensive market oriented commodity based systems) to low cost low risk producer oriented agro ecological systems, ensuring access to own requirements of nutritious food and long term sustainability. The authors examine aspects of agricultural policy, the role of livestock and crop/ nutrient cycles, climate change, international trade and certification schemes, the need for innovation and bring consumers closer to producers. They also highlight the main needs for further research and discuss impediments to the progress of agro ecology. Scaling up the use of agro ecological production systems requires Government support and funding for the development and improvement of the means of knowledge transfer mostly from successful farmer participation.
The book provides recommendations for the transformation of the global market oriented commodity agro-food system to a producer oriented economies of scope system, to make significant investment to follow the agro ecology of the area, conduct research and develop new economic paradigms that penalize business models contributing to environmental degradation while rewarding those that protect and promote biodiversity and eliminate environmental pollution and other harmful practices.
CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION 6
1. NOURISHING THE WORLD: THE ROLE OF SMALLHOLDERS AND VALUE CHAINS 10
2. POST-INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE: COMPETING PROPOSALS FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE 12
3. RECLAIMING FOOD SYSTEMS: LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS AND ACCESS TO MARKETS LINKED TO TERRITORIES 20
4. RECLAIMING FOOD SYSTEMS: AGROECOLOGY AND TRADE 22
5. THE ROLE OF PARTICIPATORY GUARANTEE SYSTEMS FOR FOOD SECURITY 26
6. THE ROLE OF LIVESTOCK IN AGROECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 30
7. AGROECOLOGICAL INNOVATION 34
8. SMALLHOLDERS, URBAN FARMERS AND NEO-RURALISM 40
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS 42
3 Attachments
Dear colleagues,
At this link:
http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Soil-degradat...
is a report published on Dec 05, 2015, by the Sustainable Food Trust to mark World Soil Day, explains why soil degradation is one of the main causes of the agrarian crisis, increasing and calls for it to be recognised alongside climate change, as one of the most pressing problems facing the planet and humanity.
Soil degradation costs up to £7 or $10 trillion a year and poses a grave long-term threat to food and nutrition security and the environment. It reduces the ability of farmland to produce safe nutritious food at a time when more will be demanded of soils than ever before due to population increase and climate change.
More than 95% of the food we eat depends on soil, but half (52%) of all farmland soils worldwide are already degraded, largely due to inappropriate conventional farming methods dependent on agro chemicals.
Every year, 24 billion tonnes of soil is irrevocably lost to the world’s oceans due to wind and water erosion – that’s equivalent to 3.4 tonnes for every person on the planet or a 12 tonne lorry load for an average UK family of two parents and 1.7 children.
SFT policy director, Richard Young said, “Few people think about soil when they do their shopping, in part because most root vegetables have all the soil washed off them these days, but the reality is that for every trolley of food we wheel back to our cars, we are tipping three trolleys full of the same weight of soil into the river to be washed away.
“With continuing population growth and the relentless march of climate change, we need soils to produce more and nutritious food in the years to come, yet they are in a more depleted state than at any time in human history. Urgent action is now needed to develop common solutions which address climate change and soil degradation simultaneously”.
The problem, however, may be even worse than these figures suggest. In addition to the loss of soil itself, much of the soil that remains in the fields is losing organic matter. Organic matter is largely made up of carbon and nitrogen and these elements are being lost from soils as the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, which increase global warming.
Soils with low levels of organic matter lack the ability to produce quality nutritious food and potential of crop yields, retain moisture during dry times or produce crops that resist pests and diseases. They are also unable to stand up to the physical impact of heavy rain, flooding and mechanisation.
Sr. Subhash Mehta