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Biodiverse Farming Produces More GRAIN — BIODIVERSE FARMING PRODUCES MORE http://www.grain.org/es/article/entries/260-biodiverse-fa... Inicio › Archivo › Seedling › Publicaciones › Seedling - October 1997 › BIODIVERSE FA "ING PRODUCES MORE BIODIVERSE FARMING PRODUCES MORE GRAIN | () octubre 1997 | Seedling - October 1997 October 1997 BIODIVERSE FAR"ING PRODUCES MORE GRAIN Biodiversity-based farming systems have always proven their worth to the communities that developed them. But proponents of these systems have had difficulty convincing the formal agricultural research network and industrial agriculturists that such farming practices are more effective than industrial agriculture especially for local food security. In recent years, however, a wealth of documented evidence has been accumulated making the case for biodiverse farming. Such studies demonstrate that it can compete with industrial agriculture in terms of productivity and that biodiverse farming offers the important additional advantages of sustainability and risk reduction. GRAIN examines the evidence that the formal sector can no longer ignore. Even in the face of widespread criticism of the ecological havoc and health threats it poses, industrial agriculture is being thrust ever -ore *orcefully upon a sceptical global ,ublic. Industry and government officials alike are using scaremongering tactics about the population explosion to -anufacture acceptance of further intensified, chemical- dependent farming. 3his vision of agriculture depicts industrial production o* a *ew farm ,roducts produced largel/ by the world's biggest agricultural exporters, such as the %S and the EU. Many countries +ould depend on international -arkets for their food supplies, +hich would undermine local food security and cause social disintegration0 Meanwhile, advocates of sustainable. biodiverse farming systems argue that such systems are far more productive than is generally recognised and that they offer an alternative strateg/ for intensification with far greater long-term sustainability. They also argue that locally-based ,roduction and distribution systems are better suited to ,rotect the natural biodiversity, health and well-being o* their communities. This article examines the arguments for local traditional farming systems1 in the South( offering a realistic alternative to the industrial model. Industrial agriculture assesses productivity in terms o* the co-,arative /ields o* a few specific farm products. Ho+ever. when productivity is defined as the capacity to ,rovide stable su,,lies o* sufficient, quality foods and other products in harmon/ with social and cultural realities, a ver/ different picture emerges o* sustainable. ,roductive agriculture. Using this definition, three elements are essential for optimising the sustainable productivity of a farming system7 8 Agroecosystem biodiversity 8 Integrated resource management 8 Traditional local kno+ledge Industrial agriculture shunned the integrated model that had served farmers well since agriculture began. Instead it opted for a simplified, mechanistic approach +hich has wreaked havoc on the environment and peoples' lives. At the centre o* such #orthern-led strategies to modernise agriculture lies a -echanical conception o* nature which has dominated scientific thinking since the mid-17th century, with its e-,hasis on linear thinking and scientific objectivity. According to this reductionist ,aradig-. ,henomena are understood b/ breaking the- down into their co-,onent parts, and are perceived as little more than the sum of those parts. Reductionist thinking lies at the root of the Green evolution style o* industrial agriculture0 It has fostered hierarchical and arrogant thinking among contemporar/ formal research structures: scientists know better than *armers, lab-produced high yielding varieties :5YV's)= are better that local ones, and modern single commodity farming beats integrated a,,roaches. Green Revolution mastermind Norman Borlaug stated as recently as 199( that "Development specialists... must stop `romanticising' the virtues of traditional agriculture in the Third (orld". 1 de 7 08/08/12 20:52 GRAIN — BIODIVERSE FARMING PRODUCES MORE http://www.grain.org/es/article/entries/260-biodiverse-fa... Industrial agricultural ,roductivity is -easured in terms o* net yields of selected crops and certain ,lant parts. Diverse and highly ,roductive ecosystems are substituted with single commodity crops, such as wheat in India or Eucalyptus trees all over the South. Plants and animal are engineered so that the net volume of selected commodities > such as grains in wheat or milk in cows > increases. Magic bullet solutions to problems usually -erely displace the ,roblem. which then manifests in a different form0 During the second half of this century growing numbers o* scientists began to question the scienti*ic method. "odern physicists no+ see the -aterial web not as a si-ple mechanical syste-. but rather as a complex web o* relationshi,s. 3he syste- is seen as much more than the su- of its parts. In agriculture, this -eans seeing ,roduction as the sum o* agroecosystem components and the complementar/ relationshi,s between the-. which must include humans and their social realit/0 When the subject o* agroecosystem productivity is approached fro- a systems perspective, productivity requires a broader definition, embracing the following elements: 8 The total ,roduction of livelihood resources for the farming *amily, including crops, ani-als and wild foods, fuel, medicinal elements, clothing, construction materials and total biomass. 8 !ood security, which means sufficient and nutritional supplies year round and in the *uture. including supplementation through exchanges, salaries or market access. 8 Agroecosyste- resiliency as the result of natural resource conservation and sustainable use, and the efficient internal management of nutrients, water, soil and genetic resources. 8 Social, economic and cultural community integrity as an integral co-,onent of agroecosystem management and stability. Biodiversity increases prod#ctivity Instead o* reducing biodiversity, traditionally-managed systems sustain it in order to ensure year-round access to all sorts of products essential for local livelihoods. #et commodity yields occupy second ,lace to assuring food securit/ and long-ter- productivity. People of the 5enwal Valley in India have access to as many as 14( types o* food-yielding species, and a single village cultivates u, to 12A varieties of rice. Malawian women farmers, +hen asked wh/ the/ grow a +ide variet/ of beans, gave a whole array o* reasons that includes man/ aspects of dail/ needs and expectations: food security through diversit/. insuring against crop *ailure *ro- biotic and abiotic stress, dietary variety, and di*ferent household needs such as market acceptabilit/. faster cooking. earlier -aturity, and leaf 6ualit/0 $able 1 sho+ that there are -an/ biodiversity-based strategies to increase agroecosyste- ,roductivity. both in terms o* product availabilit/ and increased food security. !orest gardens, such as the long-standing and productive shaded coffee farms in Batin A-erica. pla/ a ke/ role in farmer-based conservation and utilisation strategies. Dambo management in Cimbabwe's drylands involves co-,lex intercropping and rela/ cro,,ing systems. 3his strategy increases food security by ensuring that one plot will thrive even if another fails and opens up opportunities for cash cro,,ing. Coffee: Biodiversity's Pick-me-#" 3raditional coffee farms are highl/ structured forests -anaged b/ ,eople0 Four di*ferent layers are usuall/ involved0 At the highest level, a canop/ o* shade trees provides organic -aterial for recycling, -icro-climate temperature control, and +ater flo+ enhancement. 3his layer usuall/ includes leguminous species *or nitrogen *ixation0 A second layer o* fruit trees ma/ be included > banana. citrus, avocado > for secondary cash income0 3he coffee ,lants themselves occup/ the third layer, and the available floor space ma/ be used to intercro, root vegetables, such as tanier. taro or yam0 Built-in erosion control protects waterways and supply aquatic species important as ,rotein sources. Besides the seasonal coffee cash income, this elaborate system ,rovides year-round supplies o* food, fuel, construction materials, medicinal plants, cash and other elements to the farming family. 3hese types o* coffee forests -ay last decades and require lo+ levels o* maintenance. need ver/ little or no chemical fertiliser use. show high resiliency to water supply fluctuations, and suffer hardly any major ,est or disease ,roblems. 3hey ma/ harbour up to forty different tree species, have more insect fauna than surrounding forests areas, and serve i-portant functions as +ildlife and migratory bird refuges. Nonetheless, between 1970 and 199) half of the area in coffee production in Northern Batin America has been converted to industrialised, chemical, mostly monocropped, shadeless ,roduction0 ?h/D 3o increase net coffee bean production. In these "modern" coffee farms (FG of costs are *or chemicals, and non-harvest labour accounts *or the greatest single ,roduction outla/0 Differences in net coffee bean production ma/ be as much as @ to 1, but at the 2 de 7 08/08/12 20:52 GRAIN — BIODIVERSE FARMING PRODUCES MORE http://www.grain.org/es/article/entries/260-biodiverse-fa... same time in one study production costs for a kilo o* shadeless coffee was found to be US$1.(@. co-,ared to US$0.IF for a kilo traditionally-produced0 In Batin America, the US Agency for International
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