Food for All - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 89

This is the critical message - improve the soil, and the whole agri-
cultural system's health improves, too. Even if this is done on a very small
scale, people can benefit substantially. In Kenya, the Association for Better
Land Husbandry found that farmers who constructed double-dug beds
in their gardens could produce enough vegetables to see them through the
hungry dry season. These raised beds are improved with composts, and
green and animal manures. A considerable investment in labour is required;
but the better water holding capacity and higher organic matter means that
these beds are both more productive and better able to sustain vegetable
growth through the dry season. Once this investment is made, little more
has to be done for the next two to three years. Women, in particular, are
cultivating many vegetable and fruit crops, including kale, onion, tomato,
cabbage, passion fruit, pigeon pea, spinach, pepper, green bean and soya.
According to one review of 26 communities, three-quarters of particip-
ating households are now free from hunger during the year, and the
proportion having to buy vegetables has fallen from 85 to 11 per cent. 19
For too long, agriculturalists have been sceptical about these organic
and conservation methods. They say they need too much labour, are too
traditional, and have no impact on the rest of the farm. Yet, you only have
to speak to the women involved to find out what a difference they can
make. In Kakamega, Joyce Odari has 12 raised beds on her farm. They
are so productive that she now employs four young men from the village.
She says: 'If you could do your whole farm with organic approaches, then I'd be a
millionaire. The money now comes looking for me.' She is also aware of the wider
benefits: 'My aim is to conserve the forest, because the forest gives us rain. When we work
our farms, we don't need to go to the forest. This farming will protect me and my community,
as people now know they can feed themselves.' Once again, the spin-off benefits are
substantial - giving women the means to improve their food production
means that food gets into the mouths of children. They suffer fewer
months of hunger, and so are less likely to miss school. 20
Improved Water Efficiencies
The proper management of water is also essential for agriculture. Too
much or too little, and crops and animals die. Carefully managed, though,
and landscapes become productive. About one fifth of the world's
cropland is irrigated, allowing food to be produced in dry seasons when
rainfall is in short supply but sunlight is abundant. In some parts of the
tropics, farmers produce three crops each year, and altogether irrigated
lands produce two-fifths of the world's food. Most farmers, though, are