Exploring Agrodiversity

Front Cover
Columbia University Press, 2001 - Nature - 348 pages

Small farmers are often viewed as engaging in wasteful practices that wreak ecological havoc. Exploring Agrodiversity sets the record straight: Small farmers are in fact ingenious and inventive and engage in a diverse range of land-management strategies, many of them resourcefully geared toward conserving resources, especially soil. They have shown considerable resilience in the face of major onslaughts against their way of life by outsiders and government.

Using case studies from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific, this book provides in-depth analysis of agricultural diversity and explores its history. The book also considers the effect of the "gene revolution" on small farmers and reviews the effects of the "green revolution" in Asian countries. In conclusion, it questions whether the diverse agricultural practices employed by small farmers can survive modern pressures and the global ambitions of the biotechnology industry.

 

Contents

Mintima and Bayninan
3
Diversity Stress and Opportunity
23
Defining Describing and Writing About Agrodiversity
40
Learning About the History of Agrodiversity 59
68
Understanding Soils and SoilPlant Dynamics
80
Analyzing Shifting Cultivation
103
Alternative Ways to Farm Parsimonious Soils
123
Managing Plants in the Fallow and the Forest
140
Discussion
172
Who Has Driven Agricultural Change?
179
FarmerDriven Transformation in Modern Times
198
The Green Revolution
218
Recent Trends in Agriculture
241
Science Farmers and Politics
262
Looking at the Future
281
References
287

Degraded Land Slope Dynamics
157
Managing the Dynamics of Steep Slopes
165

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Page 289 - THE LIVING SOIL. Evidence of the Importance to Human Health of Soil Vitality, with Special Reference to National Planning.

About the author (2001)

Harold Brookfield is professor emeritus at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies of the Australian National University. He has written several books, including Land Degradation and Society.