Tag Archive for: Food Security

Agriculture biologique : le meilleur plan sous les Tropiques

/by

[ English | Deutsch | French ]

Une étude comparative menée durant dix ans par l’Institut suisse de recherche de l’agriculture biologique (FiBL) au Kenya donne des résultats limpides : le bio produit autant que les méthodes conventionnelles, tout en offrant un meilleur revenu et une meilleure santé aux paysans.

L’étude a été menée à Thika et Chuka, au Kenya, avec des partenaires locaux depuis 2007. Elle dégonfle un mythe : l’agriculture biologique aurait besoin de plus d’espace pour obtenir des rendements comparables à ceux de l’agriculture conventionnelle. D’autre  part, le bio coûte moins cher en intrants et se vend plus cher sur les marchés. Après cinq ans de conversion, les agriculteurs/trices biologiques commencent à commencent à gagner plus : leur recette est de 53% plus élevée dès la sixième année.

Autre facteur important révélé par l’étude : l’amélioration significative de la fertilité des sols. Mieux : la non-utilisation d’intrants chimiques génère des effets bénéfiques sur l’écosystème des fermes, ainsi que sur la santé des personnes, car il n’y a pas de résidus nocifs. Des études parallèles du FiBL en Inde et en Bolivie sur le coton et le café ont montré des résultats positifs similaires pour les méthodes biologiques.

La recherche à long terme «Farming Systems Comparison in the Tropics» (SysCom) vise à fournir des preuves scientifiques sur les avantages et le potentiel des cultures biologiques par rapport aux systèmes conventionnels. L’objectif est d’encourager des politiques favorables à une utilisation durable des terres aux niveaux local, régional et international.

L’étude a été menée de façon très équitable au Kenya. Elle ne compare pas l’agriculture industrielle avec des productions très spécialisées de l’agriculture biologique. Elle observe une agriculture plutôt classique avec céréales de base (maïs), comprenant une rotation des cultures et d’autres caractéristiques durables. En conséquence, certains résultats sont très proches entre les deux systèmes. Mais dans son ensemble, l’étude montre clairement que l’approche organique est une stratégie viable dans les régions tropicales. A condition que la formation et la diffusion des connaissances en bio reçoivent une plus grande attention.

LIRE PLUS

Organic Beats Conventional Agriculture in the Tropics

/by

[ English | Deutsch | French ]

A long-term study by the Swiss Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Kenya has shown clearly that organic agriculture not only generates comparable yields, but also produces more income and health benefits for farmers than conventional methods.

The 10-year study conducted in Thika and Chuka, sub-counties in Kenya, was conducted with local partners since 2007. It demystifies the myth that organic agriculture needs more space to achieve comparable yields to conventional agriculture. With input costs lower for organic agriculture and higher prices on the markets, incomes for organic farmers start to be higher after five years of cropping and reach a 53% higher benefit in the sixth year.

Another important factor revealed by the study is the significant improvement in soil fertility in organic farming. Additionally, the non-use of chemical inputs in organic farming systems generates beneficial effects on farms’ ecosystems as well as on the health of people since there are no harmful chemical residues. Parallel studies in India and Bolivia on the production of cotton and coffee respectively showed similar positive results for the organic methods.

The research of long-term Farming Systems Comparison in the Tropics (SysCom) is aimed at providing scientific evidence on the benefits and potential of organic versus conventional farming systems. The objective is to support the development of relevant policies and strategies to guide programmes that foster the adoption of sustainable land use practices at local, regional and international levels.

The study in Kenya has been designed very fairly; it does not compare industrial agriculture with highly specialist outputs of organic farming, but rather conventional agriculture involving staple cereal (maize) and includes crop rotation and other sustainable aspects. As a result, some of the findings are very close between the two systems, but as a whole the study shows clearly that the organic approach is a viable strategy in the tropics, with knowledge dissemination and training in organic farming being areas requiring greater attention.

KEEP READING ON BIOVISION

How Africans Are Saving Their Own Soil

/by

Author: April Fulton

For hundreds of years, parts of sub-Saharan Africa have suffered from poor soil. Weather, shifting populations, and slash-and-burn practices have left wide swaths of land relatively useless for growing food without major commercial intervention. But that’s not the whole story of African farming.

In Guinea and the forests of West Africa, there is a hidden history of enriching the soil with natural techniques handed down through generations to sustain food crops without artificial fertilizers. And there just might be something the rest of the world can learn from it.

“The capacity of people to make soils where soils weren’t good … [has been] completely overlooked,” says James Fairhead, professor of social anthropology of Sussex University. That is, until now.

Fairhead, who has been exploring settlements in the forests of West Africa since the 1990s, had for years observed locals planting crops on the grounds of former villages. As an archaeologist digging for historic artifacts in the same locations, it could be something of a nuisance, he acknowledges, but he started to wonder why it was happening.

He looked for scientific literature on African soils and turned up nothing until he stumbled upon a similar discovery of soil improvement in the Amazon as far back as 5,000 years ago.

Taken together, these could be a “model for sustainable farming and a model for climate smart agriculture,” he says. (See “How Chickpeas Can Fix Soil and Feed Farmers“.)

KEEP READING ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Microbes Will Feed the World, or Why Real Farmers Grow Soil, Not Crops

/by

Author: Brian Barth

They are not farmers, but they are working in the name of farmers everywhere. Under their white lab coats their hearts beat with a mission to unlock the secrets of the soil — making the work of farmers a little lighter, increasing the productivity of every field and reducing the costly inputs that stretch farmers’ profits as thin as a wire.

The American Society of Microbiologists (ASM) recently released a treasure trove of their latest research and is eager to get it into the hands of farmers. Acknowledging that farmers will need to produce 70 to 100 percent more food to feed the projected 9 billion humans that will inhabit the earth by 2050, they remain refreshingly optimistic in their work. The introduction to their latest report states:

“Producing more food with fewer resources may seem too good to be true, but the world’s farmers have trillions of potential partners that can help achieve that ambitious goal. Those partners are microbes.”

Mingling with Microbes

Linda Kinkel of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Plant Pathology was one of the delegates at ASM’s colloquium in December 2012, where innovators from science, agribusiness and the USDA spent two days sharing their research and discussing solutions to the most pressing problems in agriculture.

KEEP READING ON MODERN FARMER

30 Indigenous Crops Promoting Health and Contributing to Food Security

/by

Author: Danielle Nierenberg

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), just twelve crops provide 75 percent of the world’s food. Three of these crops, rice, maize, and wheat contribute to nearly 60 percent of the protein and calories obtained by humans from plants. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity has been lost.

Restoring interest and investment in indigenous crops may offer a solution to food insecurity and the increasing loss of biodiversity. Some traditional plant varieties can help improve nutrition and health, improve local economies, create resilience to climate change, revitalize agricultural biodiversity, and help preserve tradition and culture.

For example, the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC)’s Vegetable Genetic Resources System and Slow Food International’s Ark of Taste are working to catalog indigenous species of fruits and vegetables around the world. And Bioversity International, a research organization in Italy, is delivering scientific evidence, management practices, and policy options to use and safeguard biodiversity among trees and agriculture to achieve sustainable global food and nutrition security.

Botanical Explorer Joseph Simcox travels around the world, documenting and tasting thousands of crops. He traverses the wilderness, interviews villagers, and searches markets across the globe for rare and indigenous crops. Joseph helps preserve species and varieties that are in danger of extinction, improving biodiversity and distributing rare seeds to the public.

Food Tank has compiled 30 indigenous fruits, vegetables, and grains from many regions across the globe. These foods are not only good for the environment but delicious, too!

AFRICA

1. Bambara Bean: This tropical African bean is highly nutritious and resilient to high temperatures and dry conditions. The versatile seeds from this hardy plant are used in traditional African dishes, boiled as a snack, produced as flour, and extracted for oil.

KEEP READING ON FOOD TANK

A switch to ecological farming will benefit health and environment – report

/by

Author: John Vidal

A new approach to farming is needed to safeguard human health and avoid rising air and water pollution, high greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, a group of 20 leading agronomists, health, nutrition and social scientists has concluded.

Rather than the giant feedlots used to rear animals or the uniform crop monocultures that now dominate farming worldwide, the solution is to diversify agriculture and re-orient it around ecological practices, says the report (pdf) by the International panel of experts on sustainable food systems (IPES-Food).

The benefits of a switch to a more ecologically oriented farming system would be seen in human and animal health, and improvements in soil and water quality, the report says.

The new group, which is co-chaired by Olivier De Schutter, former UN special rapporteur on food, and includes winners of the World Food prize and the heads of bio-science research groups, accepts that industrial agriculture and the global food system that has grown around it supplies large volumes of food to global markets.

But it argues that food supplies would not be greatly affected by a change to a more diverse farming system.

KEEP READING ON THE GUARDIAN

It’s a 2-acre farm, packed into a shipping container that doubles as a farm building

/by

Author: Derek Markham

This plug-and-play farming system combines water-smart irrigation, renewable energy, and precision farming technology in a single shipping container that is said to be capable of supporting the cultivation of almost two and a half acres, using regenerative agriculture practices.

We’ve covered a few different approaches to the ‘farm in a box’ concept, but all of them so far have been built around the idea of growing the crops inside a shipping container, using hydroponics or aeroponics and artificial lighting. The Farm From A Box is quite a bit different, in that the farming takes place outside of the box, or shipping container, and the box itself, after the contents have been unpacked and deployed, becomes the hub of the farm infrastructure.

According to the company, this is a ‘turnkey farm kit’ that can be used to build a stronger local food system, especially in food deserts and in the developing world, where infrastructure can be spotty and unreliable at best, and possibly even non-existent. The system is described as being “food sovereignty in a box” that can be a “Swiss Army Knife” for off-grid farming, and while there is a basic template, each unit can be customized to fit the particular situation.

KEEP READING ON TREE HUGGER

Small Farmers Are Foundation to Food Security, Not Corporations Like Monsanto

/by

May 22 has been declared International Biodiversity Day by the United Nations. It gives us an opportunity to become aware of the rich biodiversity that has been evolved by our farmers as co-creators with nature. It also provides an opportunity to acknowledge the threats to our biodiversity and our rights from IPR monopolies and monocultures.

Just as our Vedas and Upanishads have no individual authors, our rich biodiversity, including seeds, have been evolved cumulatively. They are a common heritage of present and future farm communities who have evolved them collectively. I recently joined tribals in Central India who have evolved thousands of rice varieties for their festival of “Akti.” Akti is a celebration of the relationship of the seed and the soil and the sharing of the seed as a sacred duty to the Earth and the community.

In addition to learning about seeds from women and peasants, I had the honor to participate and contribute to international and national laws on biodiversity. I worked closely with our government in the run-up to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, when the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was adopted by the international community. Three key commitments in the CBD are protection of the sovereign rights of countries to their biodiversity, the traditional knowledge of communities and biosafety in the context of genetically-modified foods.

The UN appointed me on the expert panel for the framework for the biosafety protocol, now adopted as the Cartagena protocol on biosafety. I was appointed a member of the expert group to draft the National Biodiversity Act, as well as the Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Act. We ensured that farmers rights are recognized in our laws. “A farmer shall be deemed to be entitled to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce, including seed of a variety protected under this act, in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this act”, it says.

KEEP READING ON COMMON DREAMS

Change the food system, not the climate!

/by

In the run-up to the meeting of the AGRIFISH Council, happening today in Brussels and addressing agricultural emissions, Slow Food sent a letter to Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for agriculture and rural development, in coalition with other NGOs.

The letter states that agriculture should be required to contribute to emissions reductions to meet the more ambitious climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

Agriculture and the whole food system play a decisive role and must be at the centre of the debate on climate change. Food production is one of the main causes – and victims – of climate change, and could also be­come one of the solutions.

Every day, millions of people are losing land, sources of water and food, and risk becoming climate refugees. These people already live in the planet’s most disadvantaged regions. At stake, therefore, is also a question of social justice.

The commitments of the international community to fight climate change cannot overlook agriculture. In order to confront the problem of global warming, it is essential that governments renew and strengthen their com­mitment to limiting emissions. But this alone is not enough. We need a radical paradigm shift—economic, social and cultural—and the promotion of a new kind of agriculture, one that is sustainable and respectful of the environment.

KEEP READING ON SLOW FOOD

Superwheat Kernza Could Save Our Soil and Feed Us Well

/by

Author: Larissa Zimberoff 

Kernza’s arrival has been a long time coming. The new grain variety from the Land Institute is derived from an ancient form of intermediate wheatgrass, a perennial that is actually a distant relative of wheat. And there’s a widespread team of researchers hoping their work will pave the way for an entirely new form of food.

In development for well over a decade, Kernza is now being grown in test plots around the world, and a host of scientists, food retailers, bakers, and distillers are collaborating to help bring it to consumers.

Kernza is perennial, meaning it can be grown year-round, with roots that live on in the ground through winter. Corn, wheat, and most of the other grains we eat, on the other hand, are annual crops, which must be replanted anew every year, and require seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides for each planting. But Kernza’s most important difference–and the reason so many people have been waiting for its arrival–is the way it interacts with the soil.

Because its root system is dense, growing down into the earth up to 10 feet, Kernza can respond to shifts in soil and temperature quickly, taking in water, nitrogen, and phosphorous. Annual wheat doesn’t live long enough to develop thick roots, and requires soil tilling before each planting. But Kernza’s roots hold soil in place, preventing erosion. This is especially crucial in the farm belt, where rain washes significant quantities of soil and dissolved nitrogen into waterways, and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. The Environmental Working Group estimates that 10 million acres of Iowa farmland lost dangerous amounts of soil in 2007.

That’s not all. Kernza also “builds soil quality and takes CO2 out of the atmosphere, which may help with mitigating climate change,” says Land Institute scientist Lee DeHaan, the driving force behind Kernza.

KEEP READING ON CIVIL EATS