Riculture: Seven Dimensions of Sustainable Agriculture
Riculture: Seven Dimensions of Sustainable Agriculture
Riculture: Seven Dimensions of Sustainable Agriculture
riculture
Seven Dimensions of Sustainable Agriculture
by Nicanor Perlas
Almost everybody talks about sustainable agriculture as an alternative to the outworn “green
revolution” agriculture. However, the term has quickly become an empty phrase meaning almost
anything including such oxymoron terms as “safe pesticides” and “environmentally friendly”
biotechnology. Even WTO advocates use sustainable agriculture to justify corporate control of
the food chain. It is important for civil society, which originated the idea, to concretely articulate
what it understands by the term “sustainable agriculture.”
In 1983, the author and two other friends coined the term, “sustainable agriculture.” Together
they co-founded the International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (IISA), which
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At the household level, farmers, by the very nature of their profession, have a direct
relationship with Nature. (I avoid the term “natural resources” because the term immediately
prescribes a limited, narrow, and utilitarian view of and relationship with Nature.) To be
sustainable at this level, the relationship with Nature has to be ecologically sound. Concretely
this means the following: a) Instead of pesticides we use ecological pest management; b) instead
of chemical fertilizers, integrated soil fertility management; c) instead of monocultures, the
harnessing of biodiversity to create polycultures; d) instead of creating chemically addicted
seeds, alternative breeding strategies which produce species adopted to ecologically sound
practices; e) instead of erosion and water depletion, soil and water conservation; f) instead of
mass production or factory farming of animals, “humane” animal raising methods; and, g)
instead of a fixation on genes and chemical substances, we work in partnership with the living
formative energies of Nature through, for instance, the use of bio-dynamic preparations and other
bio-dynamic practices.
Interaction of farmers with the local, national and global economy produces the widespread
phenomenon of poverty. Both socialist and capitalist economies have become engines of poverty
creation. To be sustainable, agriculture has to move beyond these limited economic ideologies
and seek creative solutions to the questions of fair pricing, cost internalization, food security, the
right to an adequate livelihood, and the multifunctional role of agriculture. One such approach is
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associative economics. This will be a potent antidote for the WTO machine and for incipient
commercialism in the organic farming movement.
Policies promulgated far away in imperial Manila and other cities often do very little to
support farmer initiatives at the community level. Poverty can only worsen if farmers are not
protected by a proper policy environment that insulates them from destructive technologies,
abusive creditors, exploitative traders, usurious land tenure arrangements, gender bias, and
disempowerment. Sustainable agriculture advocates therefore have to ensure that social justice
and equity prevail all the way to the farm household level.
Can farming be sustainable when indigenous knowledge and values are dominated and
marginalized? The rural youth are voting with their feet, and the answer is a resounding, NO!
The young are migrating away in droves from rural settlements. They leave behind the old who
have no choice except to farm. They also say goodbye to the children who have no capability for
an independent choice. Modernization has created a social “black hole,” mindlessly destroying
anything that smacks of rural culture. To be sustainable, agriculture has to be culturally sensitive
and empowering and should nurture the cultural
renaissance of the countryside.
Technology development is another favorite activity of larger society that seems far removed
from the realities at the household level. But since fundamentally the farmer's relationship with
Nature is directly mediated by technology, it is clear that appropriate technology has to be one of
the dimensions of sustainability in agriculture.
Agricultural biotechnology is particularly alarming. The concerns for the potential adverse
effects of genetic engineering have already been the subject of dozens of workshops sponsored
by government agencies and scientific associations, and of published journal articles involving
hundreds of scientists. From the many years of research and analyses conducted by the scientific
community, there has emerged a growing consensus on the ecological, health and socio-
economic risks associated with genetic engineering, as well as the neglect of adequate safety
measures and policies, not to mention the moral and ethical questions.
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