Scaling up and sustaining the gains
This issue looks at how sustainable agriculture practices have developed and spread over time. We show initiatives that have been taken to scale up successful methods and approaches. Equally, the articles in this issue look at the factors that have hindered the spreading of sustainable agricultural practices.
And they present lessons on what it is that has helped some sustainable practices to continue while others have not. We are paying attention to the different dimensions of upscaling. What characteristics does a good practice need for it to be disseminated and picked up by others? What institutional arrangements are important? And what are the policies that encourage or inhibit scaling up processes? How do they come about? How does relevant information reach those in charge of drafting them? Have successful advocacy campaigns influenced local policies?
Table of contents:
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2 - 2written by Edith van WalsumDuring the recent World Summit on Food Security in Rome and the Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, delegates from all over the world tackled the most crucial problems the world is facing today. Agriculture is at the heart of it all: Farming Matters! ...
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3 - 3Emy Grace I. Wallares
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4 - 5
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6 - 11written by Jorge Chavez-TafurThere is a growing recognition of the role small-scale farmers play when it comes to food production and food security. How can this be built on? Rather than asking "how to scale up", we should ask ourselves how to support the permanent innovation process that is small-scale farming.
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12 - 15written by Jorge Chavez-TafurInterview > Parviz Koohafkan - The director of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, FAO, has a positive view: in spite of the difficulties that small-scale farmers face, they play a very important role in rural development, and this is increasingly being recognised. Their role will therefore become even more important – especially in the face of climate change.
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17 - 17written by Anil GuptaScientists can be seduced by good examples when found on a large scale, thinks Anil Gupta. But we also need to work within global platforms to spread knowledge and experiences, and shame other institutions for neglecting local technologies.
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18 - 19written by Ismail Stephen KimoleSocial and cultural factors need to be understood and respected when trying to get farmers to adopt new practices. One year on the job, extensionist Ismail Kimole observes with sharp eyes how critical this is, for projects to be able to sustain their gains.
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20 - 21written by Fábio Kessler Dal Soglio , Rudy RabbingeFamily farmers traditionally care for their farm, and grow crops for home consumption. But can family farming produce enough food for the growing world population? And can it compete with large-scale industrial agriculture?
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22 - 24written by Mireille VermeulenWhen it comes to SRI (the System of Rice Intensification), scientists cannot seem to agree on exactly what makes it work, or even whether it works. This has not stopped farmers from widely applying the technique. Farming Matters looks at how SRI has become such a popular technique over the last 25 years, and what is stopping it from becoming an even greater success.
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25 - 25written by Benedikt HaerlinOpinion: Small-scale farmers are big news these days. "Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest small-holder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world's single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty," said Bill Gates. It is good news indeed, that the FAO and World Bank are also re-discovering small-scale family farming as the most important source of development, and target for investments to fight hunger, which has reached unprecedented levels this year. The next peak in oil prices, or the aggregation of crop failures, will cause an acute crisis and a famine of global magnitude. Global austerity programmes, as a result of recent bailouts of banks and speculators will leave little room to manoeuvre. Increasing small-scale farmers' yields worldwide through low input methods is simply the cheapest way to prevent the food crisis getting out of control...
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26 - 27New books from IFOAM, ODI, KIT, FAO and others
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28 - 31Videos are a very useful tool for the dissemination of both technological and institutional innovations. Producing these videos also helps identify constraints and solutions to local challenges. The result is a much greater impact.
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32 - 34written by Chris ReijIn the mid-1980s, farmers and NGOs developed a technique to regenerate "forests on the farm" in dry areas in Niger. Now, millions of hectares have become greener and more productive. This African tale of on-farm forestry stands out for its simplicity and impact on farmers' lives.
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35 - 35written by Mundie SalmIn a recent visit to Ethiopia, I met with educators at two universities – Jimma and Haramaya – to get some feedback on the first two modules produced at ILEIA as part of the Learning AgriCultures project. Do they meet the needs of educators?
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38 - 39Cases from Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria and Eritrea
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42 - 43written by ILEIA editorial teamNews from the AgriCultures Network
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