Sustainable Agriculture in Developing Countries: Challenges and U.S. Role by Hah Eswaran, National Leader, World Soil Resources, Soil Conservation Service, USDA, Washington, DC

Sustainable agriculture demands Most definitions of sustainable new efforts in research, develop- agriculture include the following ment, and implementation. Dedi- institutional values: cated stew^ardship is the first step • Discriminating use of land re- toward sustainable agriculture. sources There must be a commitment at • Resource conservation and en- the highest levels of government, hancement of environmental and this must be coupled with an quality action program that addresses the • Economic viability needs of farmers in the context of • Increased and stabilized pro- the environment. ductivity • Enhanced quality of life What is Sustainable Agriculture? • Intergenerational equity Sustainable agriculture has differ- • Buffer against risks ent meanings for different people. In many developed nations, the For some, it means continuing concept of sustainable agriculture present farming methods; for oth- blends basic economic concerns, ers, the focus is on ecological in- conservation, and maintenance or tegrity at the expense of any other improvement of the resource base. concerns. The motivation is derived prima- According to C.A. Edwards of rily from environmental and eco- the U.S. Agency for International logical concerns. Development, "Sustainable agri- In developing countries, farm- culture is a management system ers' immediate concerns include for renewable natural resources improving crop yield, increasing that provides food, income, and crop diversity, and increasing in- livelihood for present and future come. Even in these countries, generations while maintaining or however, the visionary segment of improving the economic produc- the population and the institu- tivity and ecosystem services of tional values of the culture may these resources." also focus on efficient cropping systems, pest-control methods,

Agriculture and the Environment 199 potable water supplies, support ardship on the part of individuals for agriculturally based industries, and groups. and related infrastructure. Different technologies may be Consequently, it is important to needed and each technology can define the concept of sustainable be assessed to evaluate its appro- agriculture in the context of the priateness under specific condi- society in which it exists. An el- tions. ementary aspect of the concept is Sustainable agriculture is a that it be based on the value sys- function of the following factors, tems of social, political, eco- which apply in developed as well nomic, religious, and other as developing countries: institutions. As the idea of sus- • The economic viability of the tainable agriculture expands, enterprise; profitability is the however, these institutional val- fuel which drives the system, ues may come into conflict with regardless of its size. the values of the individual farm- • The manageability of the sys- ers called upon to practice it. tem; it varies from individual In the last few years, sustain- farmers and their farms to the able agriculture in its broad sense policymakers of the country. has sought primarily to improve • The political desirability of the the quality of life in the context of system; attitudes range from in- an environmentally sound ap- difference to centralized con- proach to farming; therefore, the trol. resource base is maintained or en- • The physical resource base; the hanced for future generations. nature and properties of the The concept of sustainable agri- land are manipulated through culture is also a function of the management. scale of operation—ranging from a • The applied technology; the re- single farmer's field, a farm, or a sponse depends on the kinds watershed to an ecosystem, a and levels of inputs. Changes country, a continent, or the Earth in sustainability are not pro- as a whole. gressively positive; rather, they tend to advance in fits and Factors of Sustainable starts. Agriculture • A dynamic process; the results To be effective, sustainable agri- at any one time become the ba- culture must include a concept of sis for the next phase of devel- stewardship. In addition to insti- opment. The level of sustain- tutional values that provide the ability at any one time or place framework for governmental ac- determines the pace of progress. tion, the success of sustainable • The social acceptability; this is agriculture requires active stew- determined by the compromise

200 Part IV Technology between individual, cultural, able agriculture practices when and institutional values. their immediate concern is simply • The environmental integrity of feeding their families. There are, the system; acceptable levels of however, exceptions. A good both on- and off-site damage example is the success of social resulting from practices must forestry in India. But even there, be included in the system. farmers' contributions are second- • The intergenerational equity ary to their family concerns. guaranteed by the system. A second constraint is lack of • The flexibility of the system to awareness, not only at the farm respond to episodic events level but also at higher levels in such as soil erosion, extremes the society. Even if the farmers are of weather, and fluctuating willing and able, extension ser- world markets. vices are poor or nonexistent in most developing countries, Constraints To Implementing A third major constraint is that Sustainable Agriculture no system becomes operational if National and international agri- it is not institutionalized. In many cultural research centers are step- developing countries, particularly ping up their efforts to improve in Africa, research and develop- the productivity of subsistence ment in agriculture are inadequate farming. Emerging technologies— and suffer from lack of trained such as agroforestry, alley and personnel, facilities, and motiva- multiple cropping, improved ge- tion. In many African countries, netic material, nitrogen-fixing donor-supported research is still trees and crops, and biotechnol- the rule. In this situation, it is dif- ogy—hold much promise. New ficult for a country to build satis- farming systems are more likely to factory research traditions and succeed if they accommodate the local expertise; consequently, the existing variability in soils. benefits are limited to individual Several constraints often lead projects. developing countries to resist A fourth constraint relates to adopting the concepts and prac- the information base. Implement- tices of sustainable agriculture. ing sustainable agriculture as- The overriding constraint may sumes that (1) reasons for be the absence of economic incen- nonsustainability are known, (2j tives from the government there is sufficient information on policymaking level to that of the the resource base to target activi- farmer. Reduction in soil loss or ties that will foster sustainability, long-term environmental degrada- and (3) the resource base can be tion are not tangible inducements monitored to evaluate sustain- for small farmers to adopt sustain- ability. In practically all develop-

Agricuiture and the Environment 201 ing countries, these three condi- ing in the mountain areas of Asia, tions are uncertain. reports "a persistent decline in In the past three decades or crop yields in many areas. Mining more, international donor support activities have destroyed moun- for agricultural research and de- tain flora, caused landslides, and velopment focused on improving choked water channels. In Tibet the genetic potential of crops and and Pakistan, highland pastures related management practices to are overgrazed. High-potential improve yields—a spinoff of the grazing areas are disappearing and Green Revolution. Few develop- cattle are being replaced by small ing countries have a systematic, ruminants. The increasing scar- detailed soil resource inventory city of fuel and fodder is reflected program. Agronomic research pro- in the longer distances and time grams, including those by western involved in collection. Finally, expatriates, have been conducted there is an increasing dependence and are still being conducted on of people on government subsi- soils about which little is known. dies and inferior options." In the absence of information on Jodha recommends that a rever- the resource base, it is usually a sal of these negative trends should waste of time and effort to try to be the primary focus of agricul- institute sustainable agriculture. tural development in mountain A fifth constraint to imple- areas—and this recommendation menting sustainable agriculture is applies to most tropical ecosys- that appropriate research method- tems as well. The responsibilities ology is not readily available in rest not only with the countries developing countries. Until re- themselves, but also with the in- cently, not even the basic prin- ternational community, particu- ciples and concepts had been larly donor countries. enunciated. Fundamental ques- tions—such as how long should Chailenge for the Future an experiment be conducted, The challenge of enhancing pro- what are the treatments, what are ductivity while maintaining envi- the measurements, and how can ronmental soundness and the data be analyzed—have yet to attaining intergenerational equity be answered. is enormous for the low-input, re- source-poor farmers of developing Reversing the Trends countries. Sustainable agriculture There are many hurdles to be calls for educating farmers; em= overcome before a significant phasizing the long-term conse- number of developing countries quences of their traditional have sustainable agriculture pro- methods of agriculture; and help- grams in place. N.S. Jodha, work- ing them develop and implement

202 Part IV Technology innovative, appropriate farming provide such services but must practices. Appropriate incentives have funds to carry out their are essential. activities. Without intensified financial As the world population in- and technical assistance, sustain- creases, additional land will have able agriculture in developing to be cultivated, and this gives countries will be untenable in the added importance to sustainable immediate future. This essential agriculture. Major causes of land support could be considered an degradation—overgrazing on investment to ensure food secu- rangeland, overcultivation of rity and social stability in the cropland, waterlogging and salin- v\^orld. ization of irrigated land, and de- The stability of the global eco- forestation—all result from poor system requires an unequivocal land management and should, commitment to long-term support therefore, be able to be controlled. of sustainable agriculture. The al- Although effective technologies ternative to sustainable agricul- that prevent or reduce land degra- ture is degradation of the resource dation either exist or are being de- base, loss of biodiversity, environ- veloped, their application is still mental pollution, reduction of the constrained by institutional and population-supporting capacity societal barriers. Lasting solutions for humans and animals, and a can be rooted as much in social general decrease in the quality of and economic reform as in effec- life for all living things on this tive technologies. In the Tropics, planet. as elsewhere, the current pros- Because sustainable agriculture pects for institutionalizing devel- cannot be achieved overnight, in- opment strategies for sustainable stitution building takes on added agriculture are unique challenges significance. Many developing awaiting creative and committed countries still do not have de- solutions. tailed information on the resource base; consequently, data bases References must be developed and tech- Edwards, CA., R. Lai, P. Madden, niques instituted to monitor re- R.H. Miller, and G. House (Eds.), sources. Likewise, a cadre of 1990. Sustainable Agricultural Sys- highly trained professionals tems. Publ. Soil and Water Conser- backstopped by adequate facilities vation Soc. Eswaran, H. and S.M. Virmani, 1990. is needed to conduct effective re- "The Soil Component in Sustain- source inventories. able Agriculture." International Equally important is the cre- Symposium on Natural Resources ation of awareness. Private organi- Management for a Sustainable Ag- zations are generally equipped to

Agriculture and the Environment 203 riculture. New Delhi, India, Feb. 6- Singh, R.P., J.F. Parr, and B.A. 10, 1990. Stewart, 1990, (Eds). "Dryland Ag- Eswaran, H., S.M. Virmani, and L.D. riculture: Strategies and Spivey, 1991. Sustainable Agricul- Sustainability." Advances in Soil ture in Developing Countries: Con- Science í5: 373 pp. Springer- straints, Challenges and Choices. Verlag. Special publication, American So- Virmani, S.M., and H. Eswaran, 1989. ciety of Agronomy. "Concepts for Sustainability of Im- Jodha, N.S., 1989. "Mountain Agricul- proved Farming Systems in the ture: Search for Sustainability." Semi-Arid Regions of Developing Newsletter ICIMOD, Nepal. No. 11. Countries," Int. Conf. on Soil Qual- Postel, S., 1989. Halting land degrada- ity in Semi-arid Agriculture, Saska- tion, pp. 21-40. "L.R. Perspectives toon, Canada. on Land Ecology and Develop- Virmani, S.M. and H. Eswaran, 1990. ment," in Lands at Risk in the "Characterization of Natural Re= Third World: Local Level Perspec- sources for Sustainable Dryland tives. P.D. Little, M.M. Harowitz, Agriculture." Proc. Int. Symposium and A.E. Nyerges (Eds.). Westview on Natural Resource Management Press, Boulder, CO. for Sustainable Agriculture, New Delhi, India, Feb. 6-10, 1990. ■

International Cooperation To Protect Our Productive Environment by Julia M. Morris, Program Coordinator for Africa, Forest Service, USDA, Washington, DC

In recent years, people around the learning that productive agricul- world have come to acknowledge ture and forestry are necessary for the importance of our natural en- the development of strong econo- vironment and its sensitivity to mies in all countries. the effects of humans' actions. As global environmental Holes in the ozone layer over Ant- changes cause critical ecological, arctica, spreading deserts in Af- economic, and social conse- rica, acid rain in eastern Europe, quences, USDA is increasingly and deforestation in Brazil—all called upon to apply its experi- are subjects many Americans hear ence around the world. As politi- of daily. At the same time, we are cal barriers disappear, inter-

204 Part IV Technology