Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

(finally, somebody gets it ...)

World Hunger Best Cured by Small-Scale Agriculture: Report
Thursday, January 13, 2011 by The Guardian/UK  by Nidhi Prakash
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/13/world-hunger-small-scale-agriculture

A move from industrial farming towards local food projects is our healthiest, 
most sustainable choice, says Worldwatch Institute

The key to alleviating world hunger, poverty and combating climate change may 
lie in fresh, small-scale approaches to agriculture, according to a report 
from the Worldwatch Institute.

The US-based institute's annual State of the World report, published 
yesterday, calls for a move away from industrial agriculture and discusses 
small-scale initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa that work towards poverty and 
hunger relief in an environmentally sustainable way.

The authors suggest that instead of producing more food to meet the world's 
growing population needs, a more effective way to address food security 
issues and climate change would be to encourage self-sufficiency and waste 
reduction, in wealthier and poorer nations alike.

"If we shift just some of our attention away from production to consumption 
issues and reducing food waste, we might actually get quite a big bang for 
our buck, because that ground has been neglected," said Brian Halweil, 
co-director of the project.

"The majority of incentives that governments give to farmers are still tied 
to the production mindset. The farmers are rewarded for sheer production 
quantity, with very little guidance for the quality they produce and the 
impact of their farming practices on the environment and on human health and 
nutrition ... It is necessary to change these incentives," he said.

The projects explored in the report include community-based initiatives in 
urban farming, school gardening and feeding programmes, and indigenous 
livestock preservation.

In Kenya's largest slum, in Nairobi, local women are growing vertical gardens 
in sacks, providing them with a source of income but also an element of food 
security for their families.

"They sell their produce and also consume part of what they grow," said 
Danielle Nierenberg, Halweil's co-director.

"As we talk about all these innovations, it's important to remember that 
farmers aren't just farmers: they're businesswomen and -men, they're stewards 
of their land and they're educators passing on their knowledge to others in 
their communities," she said.

In another programme in Uganda, Developing Innovations in School Cultivation 
(Disc), children are being taught about nutrition, food preparation and 
growing local vegetables. Pilot programmes are also being run in Mali and 
Sudan to feed children in schools and educate them on food production and 
consumption.

Anna Lappé, the author of a chapter in the report entitled Coping with 
Climate Change and Building Resilience, said: "We have really emphasised a 
set of policies over the past half a century that have prioritised an 
agricultural system that is incredibly fuel-intensive and emissions-based."

Emma Hockridge, head of policy at the UK Soil Association, said the report 
supports the case for the expansion of organic farming.

"Organic farming systems benefit biodiversity, are resilient in the face of 
climate change, and have been shown to improve yields and the ability of poor 
communities in the global south to feed themselves," she said.

Although Halweil says national governments should lead the way in 
implementing change, the report suggests that international attitudes towards 
agricultural development need to shift if the lessons from these case studies 
are to bring about results on a larger scale.

"I think the African Union is a natural starting point, an organising body 
for all these initiatives, to share between members the experience in these 
initiatives, but also in setting themselves goals," said Halweil.

He suggests that international aid policies on food need an overhaul to 
better serve the long-term interests of those on the ground.

"Food aid is a short-term fix, a Band-Aid rather than an opportunity to 
infuse money into the local economy and an incentive to process and 
distribute food locally," he said.