Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
8 General Discussion
8.1 synoPsIs
The general objective of this study was to carry out an integrated assessment of
agroecosystem health and sustainability with special focus on smallholder farms
in the central highlands of Kenya (Chapter 1). The agroecosystem health frame-
work was successfully adapted for use in a smallholder-dominated agroecosystem
(Chapter 2). Participatory methods (Chapter 3), systems analyses (Chapter 4), soft
systems methods (Chapter 5), and conventional research approaches were combined
in an open-ended, adaptive research-and-development process. Two suites of health
and sustainability indicators were developed. The first suite, which was community
driven, enabled farmers and communities to assess the health and sustainability of
their own agroecosystem. The second suite was research based and complemented
the community-driven suite. This was used to assess the potential impact of commu-
nity goals on health and sustainability of the Kiambu agroecosystem. Pulse process
models (Chapter 4) were used in these assessments. Correspondence analysis was
used to refine the research-based suite of indicators (Chapter 6) as well as to analyze
data obtained using indicators (Chapter 7).
8.2 sustaInabIlIty
Communities' cognitive maps (Chapter 4) and descriptions of their vision of a healthy
and sustainable future (Chapter 6) seem to indicate that they perceive sustainability
as resulting from accelerated economic development. They do not perceive resource
stocks as consumable piles but rather as consisting of renewable and nonrenewable
portions, with capacity for regeneration if the system is properly utilized. Their
descriptions seem to indicate that they perceive it possible to gainfully and sustain-
ably increase the utilization of their agroecosystems, presumably through the use of
technology to realign the way resources are utilized and to support the agroecosys-
tem status and function. The growth concept of sustainability seems to be the most
congruent with community perceptions.
The growth concept of sustainability emphasizes a balance among people, their
habitat, and economic systems. It assumes that there exists an optimal level of pro-
ductivity for the agroecosystem, and that successful management involves attaining
and sustaining this optimum. This optimum depends on the rate at which resources
are regenerated, the rate at which the environment is able to absorb wastes and by-
products, and the existence of appropriate technology to facilitate both the exchange
of nonrenewable resources for the renewable ones and to support the integrity of the
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