A recent report entitled, “A Viable Food Future,” produced by The Development Fund of Norway, lays out recommendations for small-scale, ecological food production that with the adequate support, promises to feed the world, without the damaging effects caused by industrial agriculture.
The Development Fund researchers advocate for a food system model that draws upon the advantages of both traditional and contemporary forms of agriculture. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)
This is a two-part report on how healthy food systems can potentially alleviate the social and the environmental problems that result from unsustainable agricultural practices, In the first installment, The Development Fund researchers advocate for a food system model that draws upon the advantages of both traditional and contemporary forms of agriculture. They claim that by combining the latest science on sustainable forms of production with traditional models of food production that have evolved and adapted for millennia, developing countries can obtain at least a double digit increase in production without using chemical inputs such as synthetic fertilizer and pesticides.
Many of the recommendations outlined in the report focus on improving framers’ access to and control over:
*resources, such as land, seeds, water, and credit;
*food storage facilities;
*and local markets
Improving access to information that could help smallholders improve their production with ecological methods and enhance their management of natural resources, is another important policy recommendation outlined in the report. Small-scale food producers are responsible for at least 70 percent of the food consumed in the world today. Supporting their efforts through local governments and international institutions, according to The Development Fund, is more important than ever, especially as the impacts of climate change become more pressing.
Prepared by Abisola Adekoya
Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on livestock and sustainability, currently serves as Project Director of State of World 2011 for the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based environmental think tank. Her knowledge of factory farming and its global spread and sustainable agriculture has been cited widely in the New York Times Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, and
other publications.
Danielle worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. She is currently traveling across Africa looking at innovations that are working to alleviate hunger and poverty and blogging everyday at Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. She has a regular column with the Mail & Guardian, the Kansas City Star, and the Huffington Post and her writing was been featured in newspapers across Africa including the Cape Town Argus, the Zambia Daily Mail, Coast Week (Kenya), and other African publications. She holds an M.S. in agriculture, food, and environment from Tufts University and a B.A. in environmental policy from Monmouth College.
