Food for All - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 85

approaches represent the best, and perhaps only, way forward. However,
prevailing views have changed substantially in just the last decade, and
many sceptics are beginning to recognize the value and innovative capacity
emerging from poorer communities in developing countries.
There are four types of technical improvements that play substantial
roles in these agroecological food-production increases: soil health
improvements; more efficient water use in both dryland and irrigated
farming; pest and weed control with minimum or zero-pesticide use; and
whole-system redesigns. In each, there are many stories of new thinking
and innovative practices. Once again, I cannot do these examples justice
by telling the whole story. Nor is there the space to dwell on specific
difficulties and limitations. This agricultural sustainability revolution
is not one thing - it is comprised of many elements that are adapted to
localities and are, inevitably, different from place to place. By telling these
stories and cases, I therefore do not want to imply that the same approaches
and technologies will work everywhere. What is important, though, are
the principles of collective action, locally adapted science and innovation,
and making the best of what nature can offer through agroecological
approaches to food production.
Soil Health Improvements
Soil health is fundamental for agricultural sustainability. It is the most
important part of any agricultural system - the fundamental asset. When
soils are in poor health, they cannot maintain productive agriculture. Yet,
today, many agricultural systems are under threat because soils have been
damaged, eroded or simply ignored during the process of agricultural
intensification. 11 It is estimated that nearly 2 billion hectares of land
worldwide are degraded. They suffer from a mix of physical degradation
by water and wind erosion, crusting, sealing and waterlogging; chemical
degradation by acidification, nutrient depletion, pollution from industrial
wastes and excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers; and biological
degradation by organic matter depletion, and loss of soil flora and fauna. 12
Three-quarters of degraded land is in Africa (490 million hectares), Asia
(750 million hectares) and Latin America (240 million hectares), with
Europe, North America and Australia each having 100 million to 200
million hectares degraded. In Africa, farmland is annually losing nitrogen,
phosphate and potassium nutrients at a rate of at least 30 kilogrammes
per hectare, with land in 23 countries losing more than 60 kilogrammes
per hectare. 13