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3 December 2002

FAMINE IN AFRICA: CONTROLLING THEIR OWN DESTINY/SO WHOSE RICE IS IT ANYWAY?

"Research by Professor Jules Pretty, director of the University of Essex centre for environment and society, suggests some 8.98 million farmers in Africa, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand have now adopted  sustainable agriculture practices and technologies on 28.92m hectares. Some of the most interesting results have been from Africa."

"Pretty found that in 45 sustainable agriculture initiatives in 17 African countries, some 730,000 households have in the past 20 years substantially improved food production and household food security. In 95% of the projects where the aim was to increase crop  yields, cereal yields have improved by 50%-100%."

"What is remarkable is that many of the improvements are occurring in resource-poor areas that had hitherto been assumed to be  incapable of producing food surpluses. Clearly, sustainable agricultural systems can be economically, environmentally and socially viable. But without appropriate policy support, they are likely to remain localised or simply wither away." (item 1)

1. Famine in Africa: Controlling their own destiny
2. SO WHOSE  RICE IS IT ANYWAY?

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1. Famine in Africa: Controlling their own destiny

The Guardian (London) November 30, 2002
Guardian Special Supplement

If southern Africa is to improve crop yields, communities must  take control. John Vidal investigates how methods such as  sustainable farming are having a dramatic impact on people's livelihood

Sam Togo has a small farm in northern Tanzania. He lives 20 miles  from the nearest large town and his wife and seven children are well  fed on the bananas, sweet potato, cassava, maize, a few  cereals and fruit that they grow on their 1.2 hectare  patch. Hunger, he says, is something they do not know.

 Sam's community is remote, but information from around the  world filters through. He knows that small farmers  everywhere are under pressure from the global economy; he  knows about climate change and the great hungers in  neighbouring countries, and he has heard the debate about  genetically modified crops and the promises the companies  offer. His community calls GM crops "zinazobedlishwa  viinitete" - literally "seed that have had their yolks  changed" - and Sam freely admits he does not understand  them. His instinct is to stay clear, because he is by nature cautious, he does not want to go into debt and he thinks  there are better ways to farm the land. Sam represents the  antidote to Africa's great hunger: a small farmer in a  vulnerable place who is not in trouble, can feed himself  and who is happy with what he has. He is not interested in  going down the route of expensive chemicals and pesticide  sprays, nor does he want to buy more land. Instead, with  help from a local farm group supported by a western  charity, he has become one of tens of thousands of farmers  throughout Africa who have adopted what are known as  sustainable farming methods. Sam starts with the soil,  which, after his family, he calls his most important asset.  Protecting it from erosion, improving its quality,  regenerating it with manures, rotating it, keeping it moist  in the long, hot months and nurturing it, he says, are an  obsession. His neighbours have flirted with pesticides, but  he thinks they are bad for his family's health. He has also  weaned himself off fertilisers, which he says led him to a  dependence he does not want. Sam is dirt poor, but he wants  for little, he says. He reckons that since 1998, when he  started to learn new ways to improve his soils, his crop  yields have improved dramatically. He also says the  environment has improved. Sustainable farming like that  practised by Sam is very slowly coming into the world's  farming systems and is becoming popular in Africa and other  developing countries. It may have been born of poverty and  lack of access to expensive inputs, but both academic  researchers and development groups believe it is  potentially a real alternative for millions of people, a  system of farming that is traditional yet modern and can  improve yields phenomenally.

Research by Professor Jules  Pretty, director of the University of Essex centre for  environment and society, suggests some 8.98 million farmers  in Africa, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,  Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand have now adopted  sustainable agriculture practices and technologies on  28.92m hectares. Some of the most interesting results have  been from Africa. Pretty found that in 45 sustainable  agriculture initiatives in 17 African countries, some  730,000 households have in the past 20 years substantially  improved food production and household food security. In  95% of the projects where the aim was to increase crop  yields, cereal yields have improved by 50%-100%. Pretty  also found that 88% of the projects made better use of  locally available natural resources, 92% said they have  improved human capital building through learning  programmes, and in more than half the projects, people were  working together as groups. In south-west Ethiopia, he  found that the Cheha integrated rural development project  is making a substantial impact on regional food security.

 Since the drought of 1984, it has introduced new varieties  of crops (vegetables) and trees (fruit and forests),  promoted organic manures for soil fertility and botanicals  for pest control, and introduced veterinary services. Crop  yields have improved 60% and nutrition levels 60%. An area  once reliant on emergency food aid is able to feed itself  and produce surplus crops for sale at local markets. In  Kenya, the soil and water conservation branch of the  ministry of agriculture has helped 100,000 farms apply soil  and water conservation measures. In many of these areas,  food production has been increased and resource degradation  reduced. In the drought-prone region of Yatenga, Burkina  Faso, soil and water conservation and land management  programmes have helped farmers develop low- cost, low-risk  technologies that increase food production, improve soils  and require few external inputs. Some 12,500 farm households there have adopted sustainable agriculture, resulting in a  70% improvement of overall nutrition levels in the project  area, along with a 60% increase in crop yields. "The  conventional wisdom is that to increase food supply, we  need to redouble efforts to modernise agriculture," says  Pretty. "After all, it has been successful in the past. But  there are real doubts about the capacity of such systems to  reduce food poverty. The poor and hungry need low-cost,  readily available technologies and practices to increase  local food production. "This is farming that makes the best  use of nature's free goods and services while not damaging  the environment. It minimises the use of non-renewable  inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers, and it makes  better use of the knowledge and skills of farmers. What is  remarkable is that many of the improvements are occurring  in resource-poor areas that had hitherto been assumed to be  incapable of producing food surpluses. Clearly, sustainable  agricultural systems can be economically, environmentally  and socially viable. But without appropriate policy  support, they are likely to remain localised or simply  wither away."

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2. SO WHOSE  RICE IS IT ANYWAY?

The Times of India; November 30, 2002

RAIPUR: A European company has been seeking to access a rare  database of rice germplasm at the Indira Gandhi Agriculture  University in Chhattisgarh and it is now revealed that a memorandum  of understanding (MoU) has been drafted for a possible collaboration.  The university's database is believed to be the second-largest  in the world after the one at the Rice Research Institute  in Manila. It was put together by a senior scientist by the  name of R H Rachharia between 1972 and 1976. The European  company, Syngenta, wants to access the database so as so  develop rice hybrids which can then be patented and sold.    The university could earn handsomely from this as well.  But the deal raises several questions pertaining to  intellectual property and the rights of communities to  plant varieties which they have nurtured over generations  of cultivation and use. The rights of communities are  addressed by the international Convention on Biodiversity  which was intended to be applied in conjunction with Trade  Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) under the  World Trade Organisation (WTO). What this means is that the  farmers of Chhattisgarh have a right to regard the  germplasm from their fields as their property and therefore  should also benefit from any deals that the university gets  into with a commercial agent. Several companies over the  years have been eager to access the university's database.

 Rice from Chhattisgarh has is own special characteristics  and even minor modification through biotechnology could  result in hugely valuable patents. The university's  vice-chancellor, VK Patil, said on Wednesday that a draft  MoU was prepared after three rounds of meetings with  Syngenta representatives. Patil who was summoned by the  Governor, Dinesh Nandan Sahay, on Tuesday after controversy  erupted in Chhattisgarh over a possible deal. Patil said  that the university had three rounds of meetings with  Syngenta since July 31 this year. On October 23, the  university finalised a 15 point MoU to be signed between  the company and the university. Among the proposals was a  six-member joint board between the company and the  university to monitor the progress of developing and  marketing hybrid seeds. Leader of the Opposition in  Chhattisgarh, Nandkumar Sai, and leaders of a campaign to  save the state's rich biodiversity have opposed the deal  and sought greater transparency at the university.