In print

So shall we reap

By Colin Tudge
Published by Allen Lane (Penguin)
Website: www.penguin.com
2003, 437pp, ISBN 0 713 996640 4(Hb), £20

Essentially, this book is a call to those with power and influence to change the current approach of intensifying agriculture; the author believes that continuing with present policies and technologies is ill-advised. He has assembled a wide-ranging and detailed review of farming and food production past and present in order to discuss options for the future development of agriculture. And the likely scenarios if we get it wrong.

Colin Tudge has two main criticisms of our current approach to food production; first, that it is predicated on the assumption that our only option is for ever larger crop and livestock production units, which are ever more dependent on fertilisers, agrochemicals and veterinary drugs. Not that he is a reactionary, for he sees a role for all of these outputs of chemistry in what he calls 'Enlightened Agriculture". Second, he sees the dangers inherent in the widely held view, most dangerously among policy makers, that "agriculture is just a business like any other." Rather, he believes, agriculture is the counterpoise of all other human activities.

As a biologist, the author believes that if food production is to be continued sustainably for a significantly increased population, it must be done on the basis of biology and not only, as at present, for financial profit. "We do not have systems of farming expressly designed to feed people," he writes. "Neither is science deployed to enhance good husbandry. Increasingly its task is to find short cuts: to override good husbandry; to help government and industrial companies that have quite different ambitions to get away with them."

The consequences of intensive agriculture are identified: "It is possible to succeed in the short term by borrowing against the future; by clearing forest; by mining fossil water; by irrigating without regard to the build up of saline; by competing too hard commercially and destroying other economies, which in the longer term rebounds on the ostensible winners." He calls for a return to mixed farming to avoid the situation where livestock consume enough to feed two billion people: one-third of the world's wheat, two-thirds of the maize and three-quarters of the barley and soya.

His view of genetic engineering, from the point of view of feeding people, is that it is peripheral since it has "contributed nothing of unequivocal value to wheat, rice and maize, and is not likely to in the next half century." But it could make many worthwhile contributions, perhaps especially in horticulture.

This book is written with a light and even humorous touch. At over 400 pages, it is packed with facts and ideas that will irritate some and confirm the concerns of others. Whichever, it provides timely food for thought for everyone who is not just concerned with agriculture but concerned about agriculture. Finally, there's the author's warning: "Human beings have a very poor sense of time. The here and now is most pressing." If the title has a hint of menace, it is because the phrase is usually used as a warning against ill-advised action, even though it is equally consequential to doing the 'right' thing. The choice must be made; let us not reap the whirlwind.

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Women and plants: Gender relations in biodiversity management and conservation

Edited by Patricia L Howard
Published by ZED Books
Website: zedbooks.co.uk
2003, 298pp, ISBN 1 84277 157 4(Pb) £16.95/US$29.95

Interventions to conserve plant biodiversity consistently target men as the decision-makers in rural communities. Yet it is the women who have gained the knowledge of plants and the skills for identifying, collecting, propagating, preparing and preserving the range of species useful for food and medicines. Without the direct involvement of women, plant conservation initiatives are bound to fail, say the authors of Women and Plants. A comprehensive introductory chapter explains the context and case studies illustrate the issues surrounding women's role in biodiversity conservation including access to land, and gender divisions in terms of labour and crop choice. The book also addresses how changes in agricultural practice through use of mechanisation and plant breeding, are affecting women and biodiversity.

A case study from the highlands of Papua New Guinea introduces the Wola people whose traditions and perceptions lead to the gender division of crops in their community. For example, bamboo and ginger are considered 'male only' while sweet potato and dye plants are grown only by the women. Differing from other gender and development texts, Women and Plants also investigates communities in the 'north' including ethnic Albanian women in southern Italy, people of Central Anatolia in Turkey and the basket makers of the Central California Interior. Academic yet approachable and accessible, this book is essential reading for all those involved in biodiversity conservation or gender and development.

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Sweet potato

By L Degras
Published by Macmillan
Website: www.macmillan-africa.com
2003, 124pp, ISBN 0 333 79150 9(Pb), £7.85

Sweet potato's short cropping cycle and adaptability to varying agro-ecological conditions have helped to make it one of the most widely grown tuber crops in the world. In Asia the crop is increasingly being used to make agro-industrial products such as starch, glutamate and ascorbic acid, while in Africa it is gaining in importance as a subsistence food crop. In parts of East Africa, particularly Uganda and Rwanda, the area planted to Sweet Potato has increased three-fold in the past few decades. However, despite the expansion of production, research and extension have tended to ignore the crop and, as a result, yields have remained very low - typically only four or five tonnes per hectare, compared with 15 tonnes in the Philippines, and over 20 tonnes in Japan. This latest volume in the Tropical Agriculturalist series is intended to address the yield gap, offering a detailed description of the plant, and the environmental factors that can affect its productivity, as well as guidance on cultivation techniques such as propagation, crop management and control of pests and diseases. A further chapter deals with post-harvest operations including storage, cooking and processing. A timely resource that is sure to be highly valued.

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Hungry corporations: Transnational biotech companies colonise the food chain

By Helena Paul and Ricarda Steinbrecher
Published by ZED Books
Website: zedbooks.co.uk
2003, 242pp, ISBN 1 84277 300 3 (Pb), £15.95

Impressively researched and detailed, Hungry Corporations gives a comprehensive account of how biotech companies are gaining control over food production on a global scale. Their influence on the main international players such as the World Bank and the CGIAR institutes, as well as on regulatory mechanisms such as the Codex Alimentarius, and legislators in government is covered in detail. The subject is both controversial and daunting, with the transnational corporations accused of 'infiltrating and subverting' a wide range of institutions at many different levels, through their efforts to promote genetically engineered crops. Examples of corporations attempting to expand their markets include offering GM maize as food aid in Africa, and the attempts by Monsanto to form an alliance with the Grameen micro-finance organisation in Bangladesh. These failed after worldwide protest. Systematic and forthright, written by activists, this book certainly pulls no punches.

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Linking lives and livelihoods

Edited by Susie Emmett
Published by Farmers' Link
Email: flink@gn.apc.org
Website: www.farmerslink.org.uk
2003, 43pp, (Pb), £5

Jamaica long boasted a thriving dairy industry. Then, in the early 1990s, cheap milk imports from Europe began to flood their market. Import tariffs on milk powder were removed and the subsidy for local dairy farming was abolished under World Bank loan conditions. Consequently Jamaican food processors stopped buying fresh milk in favour of imported milk powder, and many small scale Jamaican dairy farmers went bankrupt. In Poland small scale pig farmers have suffered a similar fate, unable to compete with cut price pork produced in Poland by a US company: over two million Polish farming families now risk being forced out of business and into a labour market that already has 19 per cent unemployment. These case studies are two out of 19 featured in this publication from the organisation Farmers' Link, that offer testimonials of the issues raised in Hungry Corporations. Others include the pitifully rewarded potato farmers of Kyrgyzstan and Tasmania, and Kenya's horticultural growers and packers, who strive to meet the requirements of UK supermarkets and their consumers. The book is published as part of an ongoing project by the organisation Farmers' Link to raise public awareness about food production and trade.

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Optimizing soil moisture for plant production: The significance of soil porosity
FAO Soils Bulletin 79

By Francis Shaxson and Richard Barber
Published by FAO
Website: www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm
2003, 120pp, ISBN 92 5 104944 0(Pb), US$53

In the context of climate change and increasing pressures on land, good soil management is essential to agricultural productivity. Such management must focus on provision of nutrients and of water, and this new FAO guide deals with the latter. While intended for extension officers and 'farmer leaders', the opening sections covering background information on hydrology, use needlessly difficult language. Subsequent chapters are better, explaining the importance of soil porosity and factors which can restrict rainwater infiltration and root growth. These are followed by more detailed examination of the value of surface cover, which promotes infiltration and reduces evaporation from the soil, as well as other ways of maintaining soil moisture levels and increasing the use of available moisture by plants. A final chapter describes conservation agriculture practices. Good use of photographs and graphics is made throughout the guide, which is accompanied by a CD-ROM providing more detail on the use of field observation to identify soil water problems.

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Rangelands of the arid and semi-arid zones in Uzbekistan

By G. Gintzburger, K.N. Toderich, B.K. Mardonov and M.M. Mahmudov
Published by CIRAD
Website: www.cirad.fr
Email: librairie@cirad.fr
2003, 426pp, ISBN 2 87614 555 3 (Pb), €70

The majority (85 per cent) of Uzbekistan is 'arid' or 'semi-arid', but with underground water reserves and vast mineral resources. These areas play an important role in the sustainable development of Uzbek agriculture and economy and need to be protected, say the authors of this book. Most of this land is used as pasture for Karakul sheep, horses, and camel breeding - and has a distinct flora and fauna, including some medicinal plants. Only around 10 per cent is irrigated and cultivated for maize and cotton production. However, the vegetation is threatened by degradation due to erratic cropping, overgrazing, and uprooting of vital shrubs by the local population. All have taken their toll on the rangelands, resulting in a sharp reduction in productivity.

This book evaluates the current state of the native flora and the quantitative and qualitative condition of the vegetation cover of these fragile rangelands. To this end, it details the local environment, covering geology, climatology and soils. Illustrated with colour photographs, graphs and diagrams throughout, it also catalogues the flora and fauna including a 188pp section of plant descriptions. Coverage of range improvement and rehabilitation, and the country's nature reserves are included, and at the back of the book, nine maps illustrate the ecological and protected zones, geology, climate, and soils of Uzbekistan.

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Water productivity in agriculture: Limits and opportunities for improvement

Edited by JW Kijne, R Barker and D Molden
Published by CABI Publishing
Email: orders@cabi.org
Website: www.cabi-publishing.org/bookshop
2003, 352pp, ISBN 0 85199 669 8(Hb), £60

An eclectic collection of recent research on water productivity in the developing world, this publication is aimed primarily at professionals in the field. Some papers address broad conceptual or economic issues concerning water productivity, whilst others are location, crop or 'problem' specific, two major problems being salinity and drought. Studies from Kenya and Burkina Faso reveal that supplemental irrigation of rainfed crops, using rainfall harvested in ponds or tanks, offers a way forward for farmers in the region who currently suffer reduced yields every second year. If such strategies could significantly reduce the risk of total crop failure, they would also increase the incentive for farmers to invest in other inputs, allowing both diversification and growth in farm productivity. The authors also suggest that greater integration between rainfed and irrigated cropping systems would not only change the nature of farming but also necessitate closer links between the often divided irrigation and agriculture services and ministries.

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