Sustainable Farming Receiving Recognition!

Sustainable Farming Receiving Recognition!

I’ve talked a lot about the prospects and the problems facing sustainable agriculture in the 21st century, but how well are they being received around the world and is their recognition being awarded?

I came across an articled on Eco-Business, published on the 17th December 2015 - so a recent publication, which is reporting that four traditional farming systems in Bangladesh and Japan have been rewarded by the FAO as ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems’. But what does this mean? Is this important in the sustainable agricultural revolution that seems to be taking over the world?

The sites were designated during a meeting of the Scientific Committee at FAO’s Rome headquarters, and now bring the total of GIAHS systems to 36 sites located in 15 countries. GIAHS offer real solutions to food security, the conservation of natural resources and sustainable rural development, and as part of an FAO Coorporate Programme, should be entitled to ‘adequate policy guidance as well as investment’, the FAO Deputy Director-General Helena Semedo claims.

But what are these recent four traditional farms that have been rewarded as a GIAHS?

Japan - Ayu of the Nagara River System - One of cleanest rivers in Japan. Ayu fish benefit from clean waters mainted by upstream management.

Japan - Minabe-Tanabe Ume System - Allows for high-quality production of Ume and various kinds of fruit. System ensures stable livelihoods and makes communites more resilient to disasters.

Japan - Takachihogo-Shiibayama Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry System - Balances timber production with diverse farming activities.

Bangladesh - Floating garden Agricultural Practices - unique hydroponics system in which plants can be grown on the water on floating organic bed of water hyacinth, algae and other plant residues.

But what about other developing nations? How is West African farming being supported? There is no doub that the population growth in sub-Saharan Africa has spurred an increase in demand for agricultural and food products [Pretty, Toulmin, and Williams 2011], but Herrero [2010] believes that a better integration between crop and livestock activities at a farm level is a possible solution towards sustainability of these systems. Such integration involves the transfers between crop and livestock systems, but despite such scientific knowledge of sustainable agricultural alternatives, crop-livestock integration (CLI) remains limited due to the low transfers between crop and livestock components within mixed farms [Herrero 2010]. Sempore et al [2016] argues that through a particapatory approach, farmers’ knowledge and awareness of CLI evolved. This method, which in some of my previous blogs has been mentioned, relies on education and training, and according to Sempore et al [2016] proved to allow farmers to design and assess scenarios which ultimately increase transferable animal and plant biomasses in mixed crop-livestock production.

Through helping farmers in developing nations on an interactive level, farmers can assess the most feasible options in the short term and allows them to calculate changes in practices following cropping season. Despite this, there is always the burden of financial backing to support such measures, and without it can lead to limited impacts from this sustainable improvement.