Save Climate and Double Food Production With Eco-Farming

 The following is similar in approach to Farm for the Future,
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but in print format.

<http://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/12951-save-climate-and-dou
ble-food-production-without-gm>

Save Climate and Double Food Production With Eco-Farming
IPS, March 8 2011
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnewsT775

UXBRIDGE - Eco-farming could double food production in entire regions
within 10 years while mitigating climate change, according to a new
U.N. report released Tuesday in Geneva.

An urgent transformation to 'eco-farming' is the only way to end
hunger and face the challenges of climate change and rural poverty,
said Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to
food, following the presentation of his annual report focusing on agro-
ecology and the right to food to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"Agro-ecology mimics nature not industrial processes. It replaces the
external inputs like fertiliser with knowledge of how a combination of
plants, trees and animals can enhance productivity of the land," De
Schutter told IPS, stressing that, "Yields went up 214 percent in 44
projects in 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa using agro-ecological
farming techniques over a period of 3 to 10 yearsŠ far more than any
GM [genetically modified] crop has ever done."

Other recent scientific assessments have shown that small farmers in
57 countries using agro-ecological techniques obtained average yield
increases of 80 percent. Africans¹ average increases were 116 percent.
"Today¹s scientific evidence demonstrates that agro- ecological
methods outperform the use of chemical fertilisers in boosting food
production in regions where the hungry live," De Schutter said.

Agro-ecology applies ecological science to the design of agricultural
systems. It enhances soil productivity and protects crops against
pests by relying on the natural elements.

Eco-farming doesn¹t require expensive inputs of fossil-fuel- based
pesticides, fertilisers, machinery or hybrid seeds. It is ideally
suited for poor smallholder farmers and herders who are the bulk of
the one billion hungry people in the world. Efforts by governments and
major donors such as the 400-million- dollar Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to subsidise fertilizer and hybrid seeds
will produce quick boosts in yields but are not sustainable in the
long term, De Schutter said.

Malawi is touted as an AGRA success story by funders such as the Gates
Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation who have massively
subsidised fertilizer and created a corresponding improvement in food
production. However the country simply cannot afford to continue those
subsidies and is shifting its strategy to agro-ecology. "The [Malawi]
government now subsidises farmers to plant nitrogen-fixing trees in
their fields to ensure sustained growth in maize production," he said.

De Shutter says AGRA is looking for quick results and is getting them.
He has found it difficult to overcome AGRA proponents¹ suspicions
about the effectiveness of agro-ecology, despite the mounting
evidence. "I expect countries to express scepticism towards these
solutions because they are not in accord with the dominant paradigm,"
De Schutter said.

The dominant view of agriculture is the industrial approach - of
maximising efficiency and yield. However that system is utterly
dependent on cheap fossil fuels and never having to be held
accountable for environmental degradation and other impacts. (END)
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<http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/3/7/michael_moore>
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That statement is ridiculous.

No amount of additional production will "end" hunger.
Not with an ever increasing demand for food.

All of these political types are afraid to admit the truth.
There are limits.

 despen@verizon.net wrote:

The shade of Malthus wails over Africa, nobody listens.

David

 

 Read      Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and note
the down under issues.

--
Bill  S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden

http://uppitywis.org/     live WI

 Bill who putters wrote:

I have.  I do.  Oz is not in the high birthrate and starving group (far from
it).  I don't see the connection with Malthus and Africa.  What do you think
it is?

David