Industrialized nations agreed this year to spend $20 billion during the next three years on food security projects across the developing world that improve small farmers' access to seeds, training, and markets. Methods that combine traditional agricultural techniques, such as natural regeneration, with modern technologies are more likely to become a larger component of the food security initiatives, development experts said.
Industrialized nations agreed this year to spend $20 billion during the next three years on food security projects across the developing world that improve small farmers' access to seeds, training, and markets. Methods that combine traditional agricultural techniques, such as natural regeneration, with modern technologies are more likely to become a larger component of the food security initiatives, development experts said.
"We've learned that many aspects in increasing food production and productivity are dependent on traditional knowledge," said Franklin Moore, deputy assistant administrator for Africa and global food security coordinator with the U.S. Agency for International Development. "We look at technology to provide food security, but we often overlook some things humans came to understand hundreds of years ago, which can lead to a modern rebirth of a green revolution."
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The roots of this agroforestry approach begin with farmers such as Yacouba Savadogo, a sorghum and millet farmer from the village of Gourma in Burkina Faso. In 1979, Savadogo resurrected traditional agriculture practices that place rows of stones around farm perimeters to slow precipitation runoff. With support from Oxfam, he dug foot-deep holes and filled them with compost, knowing this would attract termites that dig channels through the soil and help rainwater penetrate beneath his crops.
Article continues: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6313
