Farming for the Future: An Introduction to Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture. - book reviews

An elegant combination of the theoretical and the practical, this book is an indispensable tool for those who work in international development or for anyone who wants to better understand issues of small-scale forming in the tropics. The authors make a unique and valuable contribution with hundreds of examples and practical explanations of techniques used by farmers in a wide range of settings, focusing on farmers who, for reasons of cost or non-availability, operate with few off-farm supplies, Farming for the Future includes one of the best definitions of sustainable ag I have seen and, with lots of solid information on farmer-to-farmer communication and experimentation, does a great job of outlining how farmers integrate tradition and innovation in technology development.

Cases of experimenting farmers

Farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, found velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) growing wild in the nearby jungle and noticed that it shaded out all other weeds. They tried planting it together with their maize and, in essentially jungle conditions together with judicious use of chemical fertiliser, harvested 4 t/ha of maize in the same fields year after year without the benefits of either crop rotation or fallowing. Also farmers in northern Honduras tried growing velvet bean as a ground-cover crop together with maize. They now obtain maize grain yields of 2.7-3.3 t/ha, more than double the national average, without using chemical fertiliser. As ploughing was substituted by a no-till system and the ground cover reduces erosion, costs for land preparation and weeding could be considerably reduced. This technique spread rapidly without being promoted by any private or government agency.

COPYRIGHT 1994 Point Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group