The Real Green Revolution

151 Pages·2002·1.26 MB·English

The Real Green
Re v o l u t i o n
Organic and agroecological
farming in the South
Nicholas Parrott &
Terry Marsden
Department of City
and Regional Planning,
Cardiff University
Greenpeace Environmental Trust
Canonbury Villas, London N1 2PN, United Kingdom
www.greenpeace.org.uk/trust
February 2002
Published by Greenpeace Environmental Trust
Canonbury Villas, London N1 2PN, United Kingdom
Registered Charity No. 284934
© Greenpeace Environmental Trust 2002
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 903907 02 0
Design by Paul Hamilton at One Another
Printed in the United Kingdom by Russell Press
Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper
Front cover image © Pasha Saale
Back cover image © 2001-Greenpeace/Lopez
Table of contents
Fo r e w o r d 4
Food security for all the world’s people
Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace Chief Scientist
Ac k n o w l e d g e m e n t s 8
1 Methodology and approach
1.1 Context 10
1.2 Aims and objectives 10
1.3 Scope and definitions 11
1.4 Research methods 16
2 The world grows organic.
2.1 Estimating the extent of global organic production 18
2.2 External stimuli for the development of organic agriculture 21
2.3 Towards a typology of incentives and constraints to‘grow organic’ 23
3 Regional perspectives
3.1 Africa 36
3.2 Asia 45
3.3 Latin America 51
4 Key themes
4.1 Productivity and sustainability 61
4.2 Organic agriculture and diversity 66
4.3 Natural methods of enhancing soil ferti l i t y 73
4.4 Natural regimes of pest and disease control 80
4.5 Markets and premia 90
4.6 Certi f i c a t i o n 93
4.7 Institutional and political issues 98
4.8 Social and cultural issues 10 1
5 Conclusions and recommendations
5.1 Creating a coherent ‘alternative’ agricultural movement. 10 7
5.2 Promoting OAA: defining objectives 10 8
5.3 Global research and advocacy 10 8
5.4 Building local capacity. 10 9
Bi b l i o g r a p h y 11 2
Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms 12 8
Appendix 1 – Electronic res o u r ces for OAA 13 0
Appendix 2a – Research institutes and consultancies 13 7
Appendix 2b – NGOs and producer grou p s 13 8
En d n o t e s 14 4
The Real Green Revolution 1
List of case studies
Case Study 1 The Chagga Home Gardens (Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania) 14
Case Study 2 Organic cotton production in India, Peru and Mali 24
Case Study 3 Cuba: towards a national organic regime? 27
Case Study 4 World Food Day Farmers’ and Fishermens' Movement (Indonesia) 30
Case Study 5 Ambootia Tea Estate (Darjeeling, India) 35
Case Study 6 Zaï: a traditional method for restoring degraded land 39
Case Study 7 Organic and ethical banana production 58
Case Study 8 New developments in rice production 63
Case Study 9 Ecological land restoration in Tig r a y 77
Case Study 10 Sekem (Egypt) 93
2
List of tables and figures
Table 1 Key aims, principles and management practices of organic farming 12
Table 2.1 Certified organic land by country (hectares) 19
Table 2.2 Certified organic land by country (% of agricultural land) 19
Table 2.3 IFOAM members by country 20
Table 2.4 Incentives and constraints to organic farming 23
Table 2.4 The sustainable agriculture and rural development prize 26
Table 3.1 Organic farming statistics for Africa 37
Table 3.2 African organic agricultural products on international markets 37
Figure 3.1 Illustration of Zaï or planting pit 39
Figure 3.2 The push-pull method for controlling maize stemborer 42
Table 3.3 Organic farming statistics for Asia 45
Table 3.4 Organic farming statistics for Latin America 52
Table 4.1 Examples of yield increases attributable to adoption of OAA 62
Table 4.2 Risk reduction strategies of traditional farmers 66
Table 4.3 Annual soil loss (tons/ha) at Ibadan, Nigeria 67
Table 4.4 Effects of A. Albida on millet yield in Senegal 69
Figure 4.1 Influence of trees on maize cropping in Tlaxacal (Mexico) 72
Table 4.5 Nutrient management strategies 75
Table 4.6 Plants with pest controlling properti e s 78
Table 4.6 Premia generated by organic producers 81
Table 4.7 A flow chart for identifying synergies in OAA research 99
Table 4.8 Textures of folk knowledge 102
The Real Green Revolution 3
Foreword still largely overlooked by policy-makers, this
Food security for all the world’s people movement presents a hopeful alternative to a
world that would be dominated by corporate
Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace Chief Scientist
ag r ochemical giants and monocultural
The crisis in Argentina in late 2001 ag r i c u l t u r e. And, as this rep o r t shows, orga n i c
i l l u s t rated again a frustrating and unjust fa r ming is not simply a passing fad for
reality: there is no direct relationship consumers in the rich world. Put into practice
b e t ween the amount of food a country in the South, it can increase food security,
produces and the number of hungry people reduce poverty and protect environ m e n t a l
who live there.In 2001,Argentina harve s t e d res o u r ces for the future – unlike its
enough wheat to meet the needs of both conventional alternative.
China and India.Yet A r g e n t i n a ’s people we r e
Organic increasing
h u n g r y.Argentina's status as the wo r l d ' s
second largest producer of GM crops – This rep o r t identifies some of the positive
l a r g e ly for export – could do nothing to tr ends currently emerging, for example:
s o l ve its very real hunger problems at home.
For fifty years conventional agriculture has • Latest estimates of land managed accordi n g
been getting less and less sustainable. to ecological principles vary from 15.8 to 30
Chemical pesticides,fertilizers and hy b r i d million hectares (equivalent to about 3% of
seeds have destroyed wildlife and crop agricultural land in the South).
d ive r s i t y,poisoned people and ruined the This figure would almost certainly be much
s o i l .N ow that the organic movement is higher if de facto organic agriculture
taking off in the industrialised wo r l d , practiced by traditional subsistence farme r s
g ove r n m e n t s ,international agencies and we r e to be included.
global agribusiness corporations must stop
promoting this destructive system in the • Two thirds of new members of the
S o u t h .I n s t e a d ,there must be coherent and In t e r national Federation of Orga n i c
long-term support – in practice as well as in Agricultural Movements (IFOAM)
principle – to enable the nascent ecological come from the South.
farming movement in poorer countries to
continue to grow into the future. • In t e r national agencies – principally the UN’s
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO )
The world is on the brink of a second ‘Gree n and the Centre for Trade and Development
Revolution’, which – unlike the first – has the (U N C T AD) – have woken up to the
potential to truly live up to its name. This is not potential of organic farming in raising
a revolution in biotechnology; still less has it fa r mers’ incomes, creating jobs and
anything to do with genetic engineering. enhancing food security.
Instead, it is a global move towards ecological
ag r i c u l t u r e, which promises to both feed a • Cuba has been moving towards a
gr owing world population and to do so nationwide organic system, and 65% of its
sustainably – without compromising the needs rice and nearly 50% of fresh vegetables are
of future generations to feed themselves. now produced orga n i c a l l y . Argentina now
has the largest area of land under orga n i c
Working in tandem with nature and cultivation of any country in the world after
encouraging biodiversity and local self-rel i a n c e , Au s t r a l i a .
this new trend towards organic and
ag r oecological farming is vibrant throu g h
Africa, Latin America and Asia. Although
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Greater diversity
peasant farmers, who are intuitively aware
Maintaining agricultural biodiversity is vital to of the dangers of monocropping.
ensuring the long-term food security of all the
Working with ecology
wo r l d ’ s people. This rep o r t also shows that
ag r oecological farms exhibit a much grea t e r This rep o r t shows how organic and
ar ray of biodiversity than conventional ag r oecological approaches to agriculture
chemical-dependent farms, with more tree s , ar e helping to conserve and improve farme r s ’
a wider diversity of crops and many diffe r en t most precious res o u r ce – the topsoil. In contrast
natural predators which control pests and help to the problems of hardening, nutrient loss and
pr event disease. In many parts of the South, the er osion experienced by conventional farme r s ,
diversity of crop species on organic and or ganic managers across the South are using
ag r oecological holdings typically numbers in tr ees, shrubs and leguminous plants to stabilise
the hundreds, in stark contrast to the and feed the soil, dung and compost to prov i d e
mo n o c u l t u r e encouraged by conventional nutrients, and terracing or check dams to
systems. For example: pr event erosion and conserve grou n d w a t e r .
Th e r e is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy, and the
• Indigenous farmers in Peru cultivate best approach varies with local expertise and
mo r e than three thousand diffe r ent types ecological conditions.
of potato.
Increasing yields
• Mo r e than five thousand varieties of sweet The widespread assumption that converting to
potato are cultivated in Papua New Guinea. or ganic means a decline in yields has been
pr oven to be false, a conclusion supporte d
• In West Java, res e a r chers have identified by overwhelming evidence contained in this
mo r e than 230 species of plant within a dual rep o r t. Case studies from many diffe r en t
cr opping system, which includes countries – involving radically diffe r en t
‘a g r of o r es t r y’ home gardens and outfields. practices, local conditions and crops – show
In Mexico, the Huastec Indians manage dramatic increases in yields as well as benefits
a number of plots in which up to 300 to soil quality, a reduction in pests and diseases
species are cultivated. Areas around the and a general improvement in taste and
house may contain between 80-125 useful nutritional content of agricultural produce.
species, many with medicinal prop e r ties. For example:
This diversity is maintained through traditional
seed-swap networks, which are now being • In Brazil the use of green manures and cover
extended and encouraged by the organic and cr ops has increased yields of maize by
ag r oecological movement. Whilst global between 20% and 250%.
industrial agriculture has led to a situation
wh e r e the world’s population gets 90% of its • In Tig r a y , Ethiopia, yields of crops from
food calories from a mere 15 species of crop s , composted plots were between three and
or ganic and agroecological farmers are five times higher than those treated only
pr oviding a vital service in maintaining genetic with chemicals.
diversity for the future –
a service increasingly threatened by genetically- • Yield increases of 175% have been rep o r te d
modified pollution and corporate biopiracy. fr om farms in Nepal adopting
The maintenance of a wide range of crop s ag r oecological management practices.
pr ovides food security throughout the year, an
ov e r whelmingly important consideration for • In Peru the restoration of traditional Incan
The Real Green Revolution 5
te r racing has led to increases in the order of • The overwhelming majority of Southern
150% for a range of upland crop s . or ganic produce is still sold as unproc e s s e d
pr i m a r y commodities, leaving poorer
The importance is not just that yields are fa r mers still exposed to the vagaries of
in c r eased – important as that undoubtedly is – world markets, and meaning that the
but that the increases are much more under the benefits of processing and value-adding
co n t r ol of the farmers and communities that remain in the North .
pr oduce them, in contrast to a high input
agricultural model where the benefits go to the • Much Southern-based organic production is
equipment and chemical manufacturers and for export to the industrialised world,
seed merch a n t s . raising the issues of ‘food miles’ and how
best to protect local food security and self-
Economic drivers
reliance. However, local and national
Ac r oss the South, engagement with the or ganic markets are developing in many
lucrative and rapidly growing organic foods po o r er countries, notably Brazil, Egypt and
market in the industrialised world is still the Ar ge n t i n a .
main driving force behind the development of
the certified organic sector. Organic certi f i c a t i o n • Ex p e r tise in certification is still
can generate big premia for primary prod u c e r s , ov e r whelmingly concentrated in the
especially from export markets. Although some industrialised world, and achieving
go v e r nments are now recognising the export ce r tification is a major barrier to many
potential of organic produce, its development fa r mers in poor countries who lack literacy
so far has been driven almost exclusively by the and other skills and facilities necessary.
NGO sector – often despite official hostility.
What is needed
Remaining challenges
This rep o r t makes some clear and practical
This rep o r t goes on to show that some key recommendations for how organic and
challenges remain, however. These include the ag r oecological agriculture should be supporte d
following issues: and promoted. Some of these are highlighted
be l o w .
• Hostility from conventionally minded
So u t h e r n governments and established • Go v e r nments in the South should ret h i n k
corporate and bureaucratic interests are still the promotion of artificial pesticides and
holding back the potential of organic and fe r tilisers on poorer farmers throu g h
ag r oecological agriculture. extension workers, subsidies and media
campaigns, and at the very least rem o v e
• Many Southern-based NGOs prom o t i n g some of the barriers to NGO activity that
or ganic and agroecological approaches face cu r rently hinder the growth of the orga n i c s
crippling funding shortages, and are se c t o r . At best, Southern governments should
pr evented from continuing their work often begin to re-orient their priorities –
for want of very small amounts of money in educational, institutional and legal –
comparison to that spent in the prom o t i o n to w a r ds promoting ecological and
of conventional agriculture. sustainable agriculture.
• Mechanisms for transferring indigenous • Wh e r e de factoor ganic farming is practised,
knowledge from one locale to another need it is vital to help farmers develop self-
fu r ther development and res o u r cing. confidence in their traditional knowledge so
that they do not immediately switch to
chemicals once they can affo r d them, as a
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result of having been told for years that how the movement develops over the
industrial farming is ‘more modern’ . coming years, and developing synergi e s
between social and environmental objectives.
• Security of land tenure is essential for
fa r mers to have sufficient incentive to • In addition, an agreement within the orga n i c
develop long-term organic management movement itself is needed on the inclusion of
strategies, and in areas where inequality wider social and environmental criteria such
of ownership is especially pronounced land as ‘food miles’ and workers’ rights.
ref o r m will be necessary for ecological
Looking to the future
fa r ming to become widesprea d .
The dominant international worldview amongst
• Much greater support must be devoted to policy-makers and opinion-formers still holds
those grassroots NGOs and projects that are that food security for a growing world
the driving force behind the development of population can only be achieved by prom o t i n g
or ganic agriculture in the South. This ever more intensive chemical-dependent
req u i r es a further mobilisation within ag r i c u l t u r e. The evidence from this rep o r t is
No r th e r n-based agencies to develop their that this viewpoint is dangerously flawed.
own projects and work with Southern- b a s e d Fi r s t l y , the relationship between food security
pa r tners, and – crucially – greater financial and food production is complex – famines
su p p o r t from the relevant funding bodies. occur because people lack the money to buy
food, not solely because their own crops have
• Various successful projects are beginning to failed. Secondly, chemical-dependent agriculture
transfer the economic benefits of food is fundamentally unsustainable. It exchanges
pr ocessing to organic farmers in the South. lo n g - t e r m ecological health (involving issues
These include the making of fruit into like biodiversity and topsoil quality) for short-
co n s e r ves in the Andes to the extraction of te r m productivity gains, and new developments
sunflower oil from hand-powered mills in in the genetic manipulation
Kenya. More res o u r ces and investment in of plants and animals are set to worsen this
these frequently low-tech solutions could di s a s t r ous trajectory. Thirdl y , food security
have significant paybacks for ecological is endangered by encouragement for farme r s
fa r mers acros s to opt for high yielding mono-crops req u i r i n g
the Third Wor l d . substantial inputs. If the crops fail farmers are
in danger of losing their land to cover bad
• Better links need to be fostered between debts – further contributing to rural-urban drift
di f fe r ent disciplines and approaches within in the South.
the ‘alternative’ agricultural movement –
bringing together (for example) fores t e r s , Ul t i m a t e l y , we believe the key aim at a practical
res e a r chers, livestock producers and level must be to knit together the diffe r en t
ho r ticulturalists in regional, national and aspects and drivers of the organic and
in t e r national networks. ag r oecological approach into a coheren t
in t e r national movement which is capable of
• The development of certification capacity in pr oviding an alternative to the conventional
the South – by governments working in system. As ecological agriculture becomes more
tandem with established NGOs – needs successful economically, and an increa s i n g
to be boosted to prevent the need for costly number of farmers throughout the South decide
ex t e r nal inspections. – independently or with assistance from NGOs
– to jump off the chemicals treadmill, the
• Joined-up thinking between the organic and chances of this real Green Revolution
fair trade movements could be crucial in succeeding become greater every day.
The Real Green Revolution 7
Ac k n o w l e d g e m e n t s Development, Togo),Mª Fernanda de A.C.
Fonseca(Brazil).
We extend our grateful thanks to the
following individuals who have helped with N M Abdul Gaffar (Stassen Natural Foods,
this project,primarily through responding to Sri Lanka),Yvan Gautronneau (INRA, Lyon,
our survey,but in other instances through France),Maheswar Ghimire (Ecological
helping us make contact with key individuals, Services Centre, Nepal), Boghos Ghougassian
providing access to libraries and databases, (Middle East Centre for the Transfer of
and acting as translators. Alternative Technology, Lebanon),Nicolien
van der Grijp: (Vrije Universiteit,
Jacqueline Haessig Alleje (Rizal Dairy Farms, Amsterdam), Papa Gueye,(Fédération des
Philippines),Mustafa Akyuz (ETKO, Agropasteurs de Diender, Senegal),Carolyn
Turkey),Kossi Ahonyo (Centre de Promotion Foster (University of Wales, Aberystwyth).
des Initiatives de Base et de l’Environnement,
Togo),Marta Astier (Interdisciplinary Group Rob Hardy(Soil Association),Dr.Zahid
for Appropriate Rural Technology, Mexico). Hossain (Proshika, Bangladesh),Liz Hoskins
(Gaia Foundation).
Reena Bansal (Ambootia Tea Estates, India),
Da vid Barkin (Universidad Autonoma Rosie Jackson (Soil Association),Pauline
Me t r opolitana, Mexico),Birgitt Boor (B i o h e r b , Jones (Kitty Seed Project, Gambia), Mariam
Ge r ma n y ) , Angelina M.Briones (M A S I P E G , Jorjadze (Elkana, Georgia).
Ph i l i p p i n e s ) , Edith Lammerts van Bueren
(Louis Bolk Institut, Netherlands),He l e n J.G.Kanyi (Green Farming Group, Kenya),
Br o u t s c hert (C a r di f f University),Kath Burton J.J.Kanjanga (Lipangwe Organic Manure
(Soil Association),Ev er ard Byer (T rinidad and Demonstration Farm, Malawi) Nichole
Tobago Organic Agriculture Movement). Kenton,(IIED),Mustafa Koc (Ryerson
K.Cadoret (Henry Doubleday Research University, Canada)Avaz Koocheki (College
Association), of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University, Iran)Jon
Koshey(Spices Board of India)
Tadeu Caldas,(Ecotropic, UK), Daniel
Mones Cazon (FAEA, Argentina),Oscar Mao Lamin (Zhejiang Camel Transworld
Mendieta Chavez (Assoc. de Organisationes Organic Food Company Limited, CHINA),
de Product Ecologicos de Bolivia),Fernando Nic Lampkin (University of Wales,
Cruz (Cosecha del Sol, Mexico). Aberystwyth).Marcos Lena (Brazil)Huafen
Li (Agroecology Research Institute, China
Alexander Daniel (Institute for Integrated Agricultural University),Judy Longbottom
Rural Development, India), Sue Edwards (IIED),Emile Lutz (Planeta Verde, Brazil).
(Institute for Sustainable Development,
Tigray,Ethiopia),Marck van Esch(Bo Friedel Mallinckrodt (SARD Prize),Jus t o
Weevil, Holland),Bo van Elzakker (Agroeco, Mantilla (Ecological and Medicinal Plant
Netherlands),Lal Emmanuel (Nagenhiru Institute, Peru) , P.Ma r i a s e l v am (P e o p l e ’ s
Foundation, Sri Lanka). Agricultural Farm, Tamil Nadu, India),La u r a
Martinez (C a r di f f University),Pr o f . Pet e r
Caporali Fabio(Universitia degli studia della Midmore (University of Wales, Aberys t w y t h ) ,
Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy),Ali Faisal (Hyderabad, Luiz Carlos Mior (C a r di f f University),
India),Luciano Florit(Universidade Regional B.Mohan (Indian Bio Organic Tea
de Blumenau, Brazil), Komla Foly As s o c i a t i o n ) .
(Groupement des Jeunes pour l’Entraide et le
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