Transcript Document

Nourishing the Planet
Worldwatch Institute Project on
Hunger and Poverty Alleviation
Danielle Nierenberg
Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute
[email protected]
http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/
www.worldwatch.org
Nourishing the Planet
Part III: Sharing Agricultural
Innovations
Source: World Bank
Agricultural innovations should allow farmers to
increase productivity while also maintaining a
sustainable system to ensure a reliable food
source for future generations
Innovations: Fertilizer Trees
• Fertilizer trees have been
found to increase soil fertility,
decrease erosion, and aid
biodiversity conservation
Source: World Bank
• A study in Southern Africa concluded that maize
yields in Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe increased from less than a ton per
hectare to two or more tons per hectare after
using fertilizer trees
Innovations: Perennial Crops
• Perennials have the capacity to retain more nutrients
and sequester more carbon than annuals:
– In one study, a U.S. farm with harvested native hay
meadows retained 179 tons of carbon and 12.5 tons of
nitrogen per hectare, while annual wheat fields retained
127 tons of carbon and 9.6 tons of nitrogen per hectare,
even with 70 kg per hectare of nitrogen added annually
for years
• Perennials vs. Annuals
– 80% of world cropland is dominated
by 10 annual cereal grains
– Perennials can be used to produce
food, oils, and livestock feed, and to
increase soil fertility and overall biodiversity
Source: New Agriculturist
Innovations: Cover Crops
• Between planting periods,
alternate crops can be
used to increase soil
fertility by keeping the soil
completely covered
• By using cover crops there
are opportunities to:
– Increase nitrogen and
other nutrients in the soil
– Protect the soil
– Control weeds and pests
Source: FAO
Innovations: Including Women
• African women own 1% of
the land and receive 7% of
the agricultural extension
services
(New Agriculturist, Bufana 2008)
Source: Bernard Pollack
• According to the World
Bank, in Kenya, giving
women the same inputs and
education as male farmers,
could increase yields by
more than 20 percent
(IFAD, Gender in Africa Sourcebook, 2009)
Innovations: Urban Agriculture
According to UNDP, 800
million people are
involved in urban farming
worldwide
– Of these, 200 million
produce food for the
market; the rest use the
harvest to supplement
their household diets
This practice:
– Increases income and job
opportunities
– Improves nutrition
Source: Bernard Pollack
Innovations: Small-scale
Livestock Production
• Livestock production
provides livelihoods for
some 1.3 billion people
and contributes about
40% to global agricultural
output
(FAO 2006)
• A study in Kenya revealed
that 42% of households
that moved out of poverty
in the last 25 years did so
because livestock was
added as a source of
Source: Bernard Pollack
income
(FAO, Livestock Policy Brief 2009)
Innovations: Rainwater Harvesting
• Provides water and fodder
for livestock and poultry
• Allows for nutrient flow
through land
• Increases crop productivity
• Decreases soil erosion
and flooding
• Sudanese farmers who
adopted water-harvesting
techniques:
(UNEP 2009)
– Increased average sorghum
yields from 32 to 353 kg/
hectare
– Increased income by 41%
(IFAD 2000)
Source: Bernard Pollack
Innovations: Integrated Fish
and Crop Production
• Closed-loop system
provides food and income
with less pollution
• In Songkhram River basin,
Thailand, fish farming in
rice fields has been used
for over 2,000 years.
Source: FAO
– Mimics a wetland
ecosystem
– Can reduce pests (FAO)
Innovations: Orphan Crops
• Reintroducing
orphan crops into
agriculture:
– Diversifies diets
– Increases nutrition
– Increases crop
biodiversity
• Examples:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Sorghum
Sweet potato
Teff
Mung bean
Cowpea
Cassava
Source: New Agriculturist
Policy Innovation:
Index Insurance Contract
Source: FAO
• Helps farmers mitigate effects of climate change
• Definition:
– A defined set of parameters that objectively matches yield cost
with a specific weather event such as rainfall or change in
temperature
(World Bank, WDR 2008)
• Index insurance can be used:
– To decrease risk for investors, increasing access to credit
– For disaster relief efforts and various weather events
(IRI, Climate and Society No. 2, 2009)
Policy Innovation: Ensuring
Access to Markets
• In developing countries,
16% of rural people live
in areas with poor market
access
(World Bank, WDR 2008)
• Need better
infrastructure; easy
access to roads
• Trading associations limit
corruption, allowing
smallholders to profit
Source: Bernard Pollack
Innovations: Payments for
Ecosystem Services
• Farmers can change onfarm practices to increase
income while supporting
the environment and local
ecosystems
• Pay farmers for ecosystem
services including:
Source: World Bank
– carbon sequestration
– watershed services
– biodiversity conservation
(FAO, PES)
Focusing on Innovations
• A new generation of innovative
approaches to hunger alleviation
has emerged from private
organizations, universities, and
agribusiness, including:
•
•
•
•
•
Heifer International
Slow Food International
Rodale Institute
Cornell University
Syngenta
• There have been few systemic,
comparative assessments of
agricultural innovations from a
sustainability perspective
Source: Bernard Pollack
Focusing on Innovations
Evidence that a combination of approaches is more effective
in terms of productivity, income generation, and resilience
than any one approach
• conventional practices paired with agro-ecological
approaches
• input-driven agriculture that also protects natural resources
Source: Bernard Pollack
Focusing on Innovations
• Current agricultural
practices tend to focus on
single, isolated
approaches rather than on
multiple factors:
– Yield
– Impact on soil quality
– Impact on water
availability
– Use of biodiversity
• Research is rarely
comparative across
technologies
Source: Bernard Pollack
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