In Search of a Better Revolution
Forget Another ‘Green’ Revolution. Look to the Genius of Small Farmers.
Urban West Africa is Ground Zero in the global food crisis. From Dakar to Abidjan, the cities in this zone have experienced more protests against rising food prices than any other region in 2008.
The solution pushed by many global leaders is to increase crop yields in Africa via a new green revolution. They point to the apparent success of the last green revolution in the 1960s and ’70s, a concerted global effort in Asia and Latin America to disseminate a high-yield crop package of hybrid seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. The problem, they argue, is that these innovations never reached Africa. They are wrong.
The green revolution did touch Africa — in the form of cheap Asian rice, which began flooding African markets in the 1980s. I have been working or conducting research in West Africa on food and agriculture for more than 20 years. When I lived with a family on the outskirts of Bamako, Mali, in the 1980s, they still largely ate small grains (millet and sorghum) produced in the surrounding countryside. Today, they mostly purchase rice from Thailand, having developed a taste over several years for this (until recently) relatively cheap import.
Research shows that this pattern has been repeated in cities across West Africa, constricting markets for locally produced grains and forcing farmers to switch to other crops (such as cotton) as a source of cash or abandoning farming altogether for a life in the city.
The green revolution also was not of great benefit if you were a small, poor farmer in Asia. While the new package of hybrid seeds, fertilizers and pesticides did dramatically increase yields, the cost of such inputs was prohibitively expensive for the poorest farmers. The result was a silent reorganization of the Asian countryside: The poorest of the poor couldn’t compete, so they went to work for wealthier neighbors or moved to the city. Even wealthier farmers faced growing input costs as insects developed resistance to the most common pesticides, forcing the farmers to apply more and more chemicals or switch to expensive alternatives.
Global leaders are correct in asserting that the agricultural sector in Africa deserves more attention and support. The green-revolution approach, however, is flawed. For starters, many of the inputs required for higher-yielding crops, especially fertilizers, are petroleum-based. The cost of these inputs will only rise in step with the general upward trend in energy costs. Use of imported seeds (hybrid or GMO) and other inputs also concentrates power in the boardrooms of global agrochemical firms rather than in the hands of small farmers.
An approach emphasizing local or national food provision and appropriate technology is more sustainable and empowering for small West African farmers. Agricultural experiments comparing intensive African methods (involving the use of manure and compost as inputs and the intelligent mixing of multiple crops) to conventional Western cropping strategies have repeatedly shown the former to be more efficient in terms of energy consumed per unit of output. These methods have been inhibited by cheap imports and by agricultural agencies that emphasized industrial approaches to crop production.
While some emergency measures will be needed to address the food crisis in the short term, we can do better than another green revolution in the medium to long term. This will involve building on the knowledge of local farmers to develop agricultural approaches that are sustainable and accessible to the poor. It may also mean protecting national and regional food systems from unfair competition.
For years, global and national food policies have had an urban bias in that the provision of cheap food has almost always trumped environmental or social costs in the countryside. The results have been predictable: more underemployed urban residents hailing from rural areas and fewer small farmers. West Africa has some of the best small farmers in the world. We should support, not subvert, their genius.
William G. Moseley is an associate professor of geography at Macalester College in St. Paul. His most recent book is “Hanging by a Thread: Cotton, Globalization and Poverty in Africa.”
© 2008 Star Tribune
This is EXACTLY the scenario that Monsanto and Cargill wanted to have happen.
When Monsanto and friends forced the small landholders out of the local market with crops that have adapted over time to local conditions, they encouraged the import of ‘cheap’, usually GMO rice and other staples from Asian markets, while at the same time forcing the rice growers to buy nothing but the GMO Monsanto style seed.
With the collapse of the local crops, the populace is forced to rely on the imported stuff, no matter what the price.
And the farmers who are the source of the imported grains are forced to grow crops for subsequent export, all while affecting their own crops, soil and water. Which forces them to rely on other imports from the corporations that they MUST buy their seed stock from.
It is a very carefully engineered cycle, and it all started with the so-called ‘Green Revolution’ when the plan was to use massive amounts of petrochemical based fertilizers and pesticides to increase crop yields. Those ‘boosted’ yields were then allowed to rot in the fields or warehouses in order to keep the subsidy prices high for the farmers and industrial agri-business.
So now we have come full circle.
What we have now is people rioting over basic foodstuffs, while the wealthy reap abusive profits. We are no closer to solving world hunger than we were 50 years ago.
It is FAR past the time to return to the kitchen garden, the ‘victory’ garden theme. There are a MULTITUDE of excellent references in print on small scale permaculture gardening for basic sustenance.
Dig up the lawn.
Ban golf courses.
Empty lots must become community gardens.
And most of all, STOP converting human food into SUV go-juice.
2008 has been declared the International Year of the Potato, this is a good choice :
Unlike cereal grains, the potato is easy to grow, even for neophytes and it can be grown pretty much anywhere, for example in barrels on flat rooftops, in lots of climates
It is nutritious and very adaptable to all kinds of recipes
It is easy to grow more, just save a few spuds of which there are many kinds
It is the most productive starch plant per unit area — we harvested about 2000 pounds last fall in a plot about 150′ by 50′ (donated 1000 pounds to food bank)
In warm climates, the sweet potato might be a better choice, don’t know about that, greenhouse space is too dear to grow them up here and they would never make it outside.
I would like to informally nominate the SunFlower for 2009 !
NERICA a non-GM hybrid rice that has useful qualities from African and Asian rice. Ideal for West African small scale farmers, read more http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/nerica.htm
We don’t need GMO’s.
http://www.growbiointensive.org/
http://emrojapan.com/index.php
http://www.geo.uni-bayreuth.de/bodenkunde/terra_preta/
Galen-I’m slowly but surely digging up my lawn. Eggplants are real pretty in a perennial flower bed.
Galen, permaculture and small scale ethanol have a place together. Intensive cropping can sequester CO2 and begin to fight the greenhouse effect. No one in small scale ethanol production is saying to fill up SUV’s and live life as we always have. It’s about taking control of your energy future and not having big energy companies tell us what’s best. It’s about using a multitude of crops, funnelling excess CO2 into greenhouses to produce more food, fish farming with the help of coproducts. In permaculture, waste is simply a product one hasn’t found a use for. The book shows many uses for so-called waste
Check it out, man.
http://www.alcoholcanbeagas.com?bid=2&aid=CD8&opt=
Alaskamaid, what makes you say potatoes are nutritious? They are cheap, nutrition-empty starch, filler food. They have almost no nutritional value other than to fill up hungry tummies.
It is wicked for agrochemical companies to upset local farming economies in Africa to build their profits. Why do we humans let some humans rape and pillage?
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=about
I checked the links on the Terra Preta URL that I posted earlier and found that many of them did not work.
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=about
This is a better page and covers the gamut from soil enhancement to carbon sequestration.
GALEN: Important posting… food as a game of chess, you nailed the moves!
This article would have more weight if it came from a college in St. Paul that actually studied agriculture. Macalester College does nothing. It’s an urban liberal arts college. Ag is studied up the road in St. Paul at the Univ. of Minnesota ag school. That campus gave us a Nobel prize winner who fed millions: Norman Borlaug.
Here’s what he says about you GMOs:
Question to Norman Borlaug: Studies have shown that some genetically modified (GM) food crops carry toxins and allergens. Aren’t these foods a health risk to humans?
Borlaug: “There is no good evidence of toxicity in these foods but I am aware that allergenic properties may exist. Allergies caused by natural foods have been with us for a long time, so why wouldn’t they happen with GM crops? Researchers are constantly monitoring crops for allergens and should be able to modify seeds to lessen the risks. There is a report by scientists at University of California at Berkeley who analyzed foods, including some that humans have eaten since the dawn of agriculture. The report shows that there are natural foods that contain trace amounts of natural chemicals that are toxic or carcinogenic. These foods don’t seem to harm us. If you’re a theoretical scientist, you can philosophize about this but I’ve been in the field for a long time and I believe genetically modified food crops will stop world hunger.”
Prof Moseley hasn’t been in Stockholm wearing a tux for his work in ag I can tell you that.
Galen, any suggestions for reading about small scale permaculture ? I live in a townhouse and I’m replacing my ornamental plants with natives and edibles. (No lawn here.) I also have a landscape business and maybe I can make customers more informed.
Galen: Perfect!
“It is FAR past the time to return to the kitchen garden, the ‘victory’ garden theme. There are a MULTITUDE of excellent references in print on small scale permaculture gardening for basic sustenance.”
Right on, Galen!
greenskier,
A great starting book on permaculture is Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway. Also check out http://www.permacultureactivist.net/ for a wealth of information. Look at what one family can do: http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ (click on their video brochure!)
TreeFitz– the potato is a much maligned crop as your post indicates
It is nutritious, high in vitamin C and potassium among other things including an amino acid pattern that is well matched to human requirements. Try googling Year of the Potato and you’ll find lots of info.
We think it’s unhealthy because of all the unhealthy ways we prepare it.
Pertinant to this article, potatoes are not a globally traded commodity — prices are determined at a local level in most countries, which makes potatoes a good food security crop.
kamn2 quoting Norman Borlaug:“There is no good evidence of toxicity in these foods but I am aware that allergenic properties may exist.”
And do you know why he says there is “no good evidence”? Because the studies have not been done. Biotech corps create a GMO and do a chemical test themselves (bad idea)to see if it is “substantially equivalent” to conventional crops. If the crop, say, contains 67.6 times less beta carotine, as is the case with Event CZW-3 GM squash, it is still “substantially equivalent.” The only exception is Bt products, for which the industry needs animal testing, which they do themselves (bad idea again as the case of Event MON 810 shows). There can only be “no good evidence” when you don’t look for evidence.
kman2___Good work on coming up with the discussion from Norman Borlaug about GMO crops not showing any problems and are safe to eat. We have been inundated with scaremongers on this subject and it is about time we heard from the other side. It is a little irritating to read ridiculous comments on a subject of so much importance to our country.
Victory gardens are a fine idea and many of us have been doing that for years but they are somewhat irrelevant to the nations millions of acres of grain crops. By the way, about two hills of zuchini will put food on the table for a long period of time with minimum care.
“We have been inundated with scaremongers on this subject…”
And have I been a scaremonger be asking proponents to show me independent, peer-reviewed, double-blind, placebo-controlled human feeding trials? You know, the ones I keep asking you and other proponents to show me but are always ignored (or met with red herring arguments or attempts to reverse the burden of proof)? Is it “scaremongering” to ask to see proof that safety has actually been seriously addressed?
“GMO crops not showing any problems and are safe to eat.”
Ahem, yes, about those studies again… Borlaug points out a problem of a lack of research, not a finding of any research.
Greenskier- Mel Bartholomew’s ‘Squarefoot Gardening’ is the classic. ‘Four Season Harvest’, ‘Permaculture: A Designers Manual’ and ‘Rodale’s All-New Encylopedia of Organic Gardening’ are also must reads.
I would also suggest ‘When Technology Fails’ as a personal bugout resource.
Alaskamaid, your point about the nutritional value of potatoes is well-taken. The quote below is from “The Little Ice Age” by Brian Fagan (this book is a must-read, because it documents the abrupt reversal to a FRIGID climate in the northern hemisphere that lasted some 400 years after the “Medieval Warm Period” — which was actually a bit warmer, BTW, than now):
[In Ireland] “The late 18th century was the golden age of the Irish potato … potatoes formed a substantial part of the diet of the wealthy and the entire diet of the poor. […] Visitor after visitor remarked on the healthy looks of the Irish countryfolk, their cheerful demeanor, and their constant dancing, singing and storytelling.”
AdeleTheCzech –
Yes the Irish peasants pretty much lived on potatoes and dairy products. And there is nothing so good as a big bowl of potato soup with bacon and chives when you’ve been outside in way-below-zero weather in the winter up here.
BUT while the Irish grew vast quantities of potatoes, they only grew very limited varieties. That is why the late potato blight was so devastating, there were no resistant cultivars. EVERYTHING rotted.
We are just starting to have blight problems in Alaska and are taking stringent steps to isolate and destroy infected stock. It is not endemic here because our winters are so cold, but it can come in on both potatoes and tomatoes.
That is why it’s important to cultivate different varieties, keep the genetic diversity going, there are an astounding number of potato varieties.
Iran announced a few days ago that it has identified a new strain of wheat rust which may threaten wheat crops in many countries. I guess Hillary stands ready to obliterate the messenger ?
- and a real sustainable society - Green Island - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/greenisland.html
Kernel
Are GM promoters good farmers, good socialists or good croney capitalists?
“The lost export trade as a result of GM crops was thus said to have caused a fall in crop prices and a need for increased government subsidies, estimated at an
extra US$3-5 billion annually.” See - GM CROPS ARE “ECONOMIC DISASTER”, NEW REPORT SAYS http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/service32.htm
Looks like GM farmers are good at fleecing US taxpayers of their taxdollars to me.
As I have said before, the biotech industry and their spindoctors have one thing in common with Hitler, they both believe as Hitler said and i quote “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
Hazards of eating GM food and how government and industry have lied to you visit www.seedsofdeception.com