Summary: Evaluating the
potential contribution of organic agriculture to
sustainability goals (FAO, 1998)
4.3 Potential impacts
Protecting soils and enhancing their fertility or land stewardship implies
ensuring productive capacity for future generations. Deteriorating soil
quality is often quoted by farmers as a major reason for adopting organic
management, as in many of the projects described in UNDP (1992) and as referred
to by many South Asian NGOs assisting farmers who have adopted the Green
Revolution technologies (1996 field observations by Nadia Scialabba). It
can, therefore, be assumed that those farmers who adopted organic management
practices found a way to improve the quality of their soil within the new
management system, or at least stemmed the deterioration. There is sufficient
research carried-out to know that organic agricultural methods do have a
positive influence on soil quality (see, for example, Reganold (1995); and
several papers in Oestergaard (1996) and Kristensen and Hoegh-Jensen (1996)).
However, in the quest to improve soil quality for the future, probably the
single most important factor to determine whether farmers are interested
in the issue is whether they will benefit from the change. Security of land
tenure is, therefore, an extremely important factor in this respect. If
security is not guaranteed, there is little reason for farmers to invest
in a method that will bring them income in the future rather than immediate
rewards.
Food security and stability
In organic agriculture in general, and on most of the projects mentioned
in UNDP 1992, a diversity of crops are grown and kinds of livestock kept.
This diversification means that the risk in variation in production is spread,
as different crops react differently to climatic variation, or have different
times of growing (both in the time of the year and in length of growing
period). This implies that, although there is less chance of a bumper year
for all enterprises on organic farms (likely to coincide with relatively
low prices), there is also less chance of low production for all crops and
livestock simultaneously, thus contributing to food security and stability
of food available for consumption. Decreases in the variation of yields
has the same effect as a spreading of enterprises.
Food security is not necessarily achieved through food self-sufficiency.
Consumers' demand for organically-produced food and sometimes impressive
premiums provide new export opportunities for farmers of the developing
world, thus increasing their self-reliance. Although few studies have assessed
the long-term potential of such market premiums, returns from organic agriculture
have the potential, under the right circumstances, to contribute to local
food security by increasing family incomes.
Organic agriculture can contribute to local food security in several ways.
Organic farmers do not incur high initial expenses so less money is borrowed.
Synthetic inputs, unaffordable to an increasing number of resource-poor
farmers due to decreased subsidies and the need for foreign currency, are
not used. Organic soil improvement may be the only economically sound system
for resource-poor, small-scale farmers.
This characteristic of the production process on organic farms means that
organic farmer-consumers are less dependent on a factor over which they
may have little control, thereby increasing the food security situation.
In some of the projects studied in UNDP (1992) low cash costs were cited
as a major reason for starting organic agriculture.
Environmental impact
Organic farmers forego the use of synthetic fertilizers. Most certification
programmes also restrict the use of mineral fertilizers, which can only
be used to the extent necessary to supplement organic matter produced on
the farm. There are environmental advantages to this: non-renewable fossil
energy needs and nitrogen leaching are often reduced. Instead, farmers enhance
soil fertility through use of manure (although the kind and its handling
has a great effect on nitrogen content and poor usage can create leaching
problems), crop residues (e.g. corn stover, rice residues), legumes and
green manures, and other natural fertilizers (e.g., rock phosphate, seaweed,
guano, wood ash). Disadvantages to discarding synthetic fertilizer must
be considered as well: energy needs can escalate if thermal and mechanical
weeding or intensive soil tillage is used and, in some cases, organic farmers
burn to clear land which reduces fertility. Many resource-poor farmers do
not have access to livestock manure, often an important fertility component.
Sometimes sewage sludge is used, which may contain pathogens and other contaminants.
Finally, some areas in tropical countries may have such low soil fertility
that synthetic inputs are necessary.
Organic farmers rely on natural pest controls (e.g. insect pheromones, plants
with pest control properties) rather than synthetic pesticides which are
known to kill beneficial organisms (e.g., bees, earthworms), cause pest
resistance (e.g., in Asia, cotton is sprayed 15-16 times a season versus
5-6 times ten years ago), and oftentimes pollute water and land.
Soil protection techniques used in organic agriculture (e.g., terracing
in the humid tropics, cover crops) combat soil erosion, compaction, salinization,
and degradation of soils, especially through the use of crop rotations and
organic materials which improve soil fertility and structure (including
beneficial microbial influence and soil particle evolution). Integrating
trees and shrubs into the farm system also conserves soil and water and
provides a defense against unfavourable weather conditions such as winds,
droughts, and floods.
Techniques used in organic agriculture also reduce water pollution and help
conserve water on the farm. A few developed countries subsidize or compel
farmers to undertake organic production as a solution to water quality problems.
In certain areas around Muenchen (Germany) farmers are paid to convert to
organic agriculture in a bid to maintain drinking water quality of the city
(Heid 1997). In Brittany (Northern France) whole valleys are compelled to
convert to organic agricultural management as drinking water is found to
be of unacceptable quality (Egmont-Florian 1997).
Organic agriculture requires a diversity of crops and livestock. Many indigenous
food crops (e.g., yam, sorghum, millet, oil palm, cashew, mango) supplanted
by monoproduction of cash crops, pseudocereals (e.g. amaranth, buckwheat,
chenopods), grain legumes (e.g., adzuki, faba, hyacinth beans) and other
under-utilized plants, many of great value, can be reintroduced through
crop rotations. This contributes to whole farm health, provides conservation
of important genotypes, and creates habitats for beneficial species.
Although inappropriate management of inputs used in organic agriculture
may be detrimental to the environment (such as an excess of manure or compost
affecting water quality), one of the aims of this management system is to
"minimize all forms of pollution that may result from agricultural
practices". Standards are, therefore, expected to reflect local conditions
so that pollution is minimized. For example, restrictions on the number
of livestock or amount of manure to be used per unit of land are not exceptional.
Social impact
The social impact of a change towards organic agriculture is recognized
as an important aspect as witnessed by its inclusion in IFOAM's Principle
Aims. However, it has been argued that, at present, these are
areas of peripheral attention, as compared to the scientific aspects of
the management system. The following are some of the issues:
- the site-specific nature of organic agriculture also means that indigenous
species and knowledge, so often discounted, are of great value. In many
places, this knowledge has been eroded with the introduction of high external
input agriculture, promotion of monocultures, and selection of "improved
products." Farmers may readily welcome a management system close to
their own traditions and not driven solely by a production ethic;
- organic management which relies on local knowledge of complex interactions
and variations of conditions from place to place does not favour large production
areas. Organic agriculture therefore carries an enhanced potential for more
equitable distribution and access to productive resources, namely land;
- engaging in organic production means experimenting new techniques, introducing
different management of labour time, investing efforts in different management
of space, adapting and refining solutions to change, comparing different
options with farmers that have similar conditions, and making appropriate
choices. This can only be achieved through farmer's participation in research
and its application. This on-farm research component can support rural communities,
and generate new knowledge that will benefit all farmers;
- consistent labour needs, combined with the enhanced capacity of the
land and protection of water associated with organic agriculture, may encourage
people to permanently locate and thus reinvigorate rural communities;
- some of the projects mentioned in UNDP (1992) changed, together with
the production system, the social environment of the workers engaged in
organic agriculture, namely their working conditions. For example, workers
were provided with plots of land for home vegetable production, improved
housing situations and child care facilities;
- the concept of "fair trade" has long been part of IFOAM's
guidelines. It implies a concern of the buyer for social justice for those
who work in agriculture, especially with regard to a "fair wage".
In fair-trade projects, traders ensure that producers receive a minimum
return for their produce irrespective of the actual market price, while
also other conditions can be part of the contract, such as continuation
of the contract in the future. At present, certification which guarantees
fair trade does not necessarily imply organic production, although IFOAM
encourages fair trade projects (IFOAM 1997). Organic certification organizations
favourably consider inclusion of "reasonable wage conditions"
in the overall evaluation of a project;
- improving the situation of women in agriculture is recognized as an
important issue within organic agriculture. However, a more structured way
of action is advocated by Allen (1996). Availability of work, gender distribution
of labour and access to knowledge are key considerations;
- within organic agriculture, the use of locally available inputs is encouraged,
the effect on the local community of such a form of agriculture is, therefore,
likely to be greater than when inputs are imported from outside the community;
- in those cases where synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are imported,
adoption of organic agriculture techniques means a decrease in imports,
decreasing the need for foreign currency. Although it is not clearly the
case that labour needs on organic farms are higher, where value adding activities
(such as processing and marketing) are developed, more labour input and
a different distribution of labour can be required. The present market characteristics
of organic agriculture make this more likely within this form of agriculture.
References
Egmont-Florian, D. van (1997), 'Unsafe drinking water leads to government organic
conversion, France', Ecology and Farming (14), p.25.
Heid, P. (1997), 'Organic agriculture protects drinking water around Munich,
Germany', Ecology and Farming, (14), p.24.
IFOAM (1997), 'The Future Agenda for Organic Trade'. Proceedings of the
5th IFOAM International Conference on Trade in Organic Products, Oxford,
UK, September.
Kristensen, N. H. and Hoegh-Jensen, H. (eds.) (1996), New Research in
Organic Agriculture, Proceedings of the 11 International Scientific
Conference of the International Organisation for Organic Agricultural Movements,
'Down to Earth and Further Afield', Copenhagen, August.
Oestergaard, T. (ed.) (1996), Fundamentals of Organic Agriculture. Proceedings
of the 11 International Scientific Conference of the International Organisation
for Organic Agricultural Movements, 'Down to Earth and Further Afield',
Copenhagen, August.
Reganold, J. (1995), 'Soil quality and profitability of bio-dynamic and
conventional farming systems: A review', American Journal of Alternative
Agriculture, 10 (1), pp.36-45.
UNDP (1992), Benefits of Diversity, United Nations Development Programme,
New York.