Reality Cheques - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 73

In most, however, sustainability policies remain at the margins. Only two
countries have given explicit national support for sustainable agriculture,
putting it at the centre of agricultural development policy. Several
countries have given sub-regional support, such as the states of Santa
Caterina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sol in southern Brazil who support
zero-tillage and catchment management, and some states in India who
support watershed management or participatory irrigation management.
Many more countries have reformed parts of agricultural policies, such
as China's support for integrated ecological demonstration villages;
Kenya's catchment approach to soil conservation; Indonesia's ban on
pesticides and its programme for farmer field schools; India's support for
soybean processing and marketing; Bolivia's regional integration of
agricultural and rural policies; Sweden's support for organic agriculture;
Burkina Faso's land policy; and Sri Lanka's and the Philippines' stipulation
that water users' groups manage irrigation systems.
One of the best examples of a carefully designed and integrated pro-
gramme comes from China. In March 1994, the government published
a White Paper to set out its plan for implementing Agenda 21. The plan
advocated ecological farming, known as Shengtai Nongye or agroecological
engineering, as the approach to achieve sustainable agriculture. Pilot
projects have been established in some 2000 townships and villages spread
across 150 counties. Policy for these 'eco-counties' is organized through
a cross-ministry partnership, which uses a variety of incentives to encourage
the adoption of diverse production systems to replace monocultures.
These incentives include subsidies and loans, technical assistance, tax
exemptions and deductions, security of land tenure, marketing services,
and linkages to research organizations. These eco-counties contain some
12 million hectares of land, about half of which is cropland. Although
this covers only a relatively small part of China's total agricultural land,
it illustrates what is possible when policy is coordinated and holistic.
An even larger set of countries has seen some progress on agricultural
sustainability at project and programme level. However, progress occurs
in spite of, rather than because of, explicit policy support. No agriculture
minister is likely to say that he or she is against sustainable agriculture;
but wise words have yet to be translated into comprehensive policy
reforms. Sustainable agricultural systems can be economically, environ-
mentally and socially viable, and can contribute positively to local liveli-
hoods. But without appropriate policy support, they are likely to remain,
at best, localized in extent and, at worst, may simply wither away. In
Europe and North America, most policy analysts and sustainable agri-
culture organizations now agree that a policy framework that integrates
support for farming together with rural development and environmental