 Many of the books reviewed here can now be purchased over the internet from amazon.co.uk. You can use the link following most of the reviews, or if you are unable to find the book you are after, you can use the search facility at the end of the page. |
In print
Hungry for power - the impact of transnational corporations on food security
published by The UK Food Group, PO Box 100, London, SE1 7RT
Email: ukfg@dial.pipex.com
1999, 89 pp., price £6 (inc. post and packing)
Transnational companies (TNCs) involved in agriculture and food production are put under a critical and hostile spotlight in "Hungry for Power", a slim, large format paperback published by the UK Food Group. Each of six chapters focuses on a company or companies identified with a sector of agriculture or food production: Nestlé - baby milk; Cargill - international grain trading; Monsanto - agrochemicals and GMOs; Chiquita, Dole and Delmonte - producers and exporters of fruit, in particular bananas; Zeneca, like Monsanto, an agrochemical giant with GMO interests; and finally British American Tobacco.
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The six authors of the different chapters are unashamedly partisan in the presentation of their research and most are members of, or associated with, campaigning organisations: Banana Link, The Pesticides Trust, Baby Milk Action, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India and Farmers' Link, UK. But this does not negate their commentary nor their conclusions. They and their publisher are very obviously concerned at the increasing role and power of TNCs in agriculture worldwide. They see many of the activities of TNCs, in part if not entirely, as sinister from the promotion of high cost products (in terms of developing country affordability), where low or no cost alternatives have served adequately in the past, to the development of near monopolistic control of sections of trade, whether in bananas or grain. The authors are also fearful that the promotion of pesticides and hybrid or genetically modified varieties will trap farmers in a dependence on a single or handful of suppliers, denying growers further choice in what they grow and how they grow it.
Many of the facts and opinions have been stated before but there are details that can surprise and even shock. One example is: "In Andhra Pradesh, India, over 400 farmers have tragically committed suicide because of economic hardship caused by the complete collapse of their cotton crops, partly brought about by overuse of pesticides". Another reveals: "Obtaining new lands in Latin America to expand banana production is crucial for the TNCs to maintain their leading position... Small farmers who refused to turn their land into banana cultivation were subjected to strong pressure to sell their land." And, "Cargill seeks to occupy more and more 'territory', along with the alienation of whole societies from their settlements and their commons... Building a global food system, and establishing their toll booths along every route that food travels, allows the company to be a determinative part of everybody's future."
Those with a more sanguine, optimistic or commercial view of the world may well be irritated by the writing. However, Hungry for Power deserves to be read widely and the issues debated openly. The TNCs are a significant part of the modern capitalist system, and they are major employers and engines of trade. They have the financial power and other resources to do great good. Few people question the life-saving and health-enhancing developments of modern medicine, which are almost invariably the products of the same life science companies engaged in and criticised for the production of agrochemicals and GMOs. Where TNCs and others can refute the accusations made in this book they should do so. The development of agriculture and food production is too important to be left unquestioned and neither should it be governed solely by the drive for profit and dominance of markets and consumers.
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Fertile ground - The impacts of participatory watershed management
Ed. Fiona Hinchcliffe, John Thompson, Jules Pretty, Irene Guijt and Parmesh Shah.
published by Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd, 103-105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH, UK
Email: itpubs@itpubs.org.uk
1999, 385 pp., ISBN 1 85339 389 4
Growing concerns about environmental degradation, declining agricultural productivity and increasing population pressures have led governments and agencies to seek new approaches to natural resource management. Fertile Ground presents twenty-three case studies which reveal the complex nature of the problems and the continuing challenges faced by conservation professionals and farmers around the world. The collection offers no short cuts to better land husbandry or enhanced rural livelihoods but it does suggest realistic ways forward for both governments and external support agencies.
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Where there is no vet
by Bill Forse
published by CTA, Macmillan and Oxfam
Email: publish@oxfam.org.uk
ISBN 0 85598 409 0
Covering a wide range of topics that affect the health of livestock, from diarrhoea to rinderpest, from helpful traditional remedies to the uses of modern medicines and vaccines, this book describes the signs of disease to look for, helps readers to work out what is wrong and then tells them what to do about it. With over 400 drawings, the book is designed for anyone who keeps animals and for people who advise or teach others who keep animals.
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How to grow a balanced diet - A handbook for community workers
by Ann Burgess, Grace Maina, Philip Harris and Stephanie Harris
published by VSO Books, 317 Putney Bridge Road, London SW15 2PN, UK
1998, 229 pp., ISBN 0 95090 50 6 2
Intended to bridge the gap between nutritional problems and agricultural solutions, this book provides information on growing conditions, cultivation requirements, organic control of pests and diseases, harvesting, storage, saving seed and nutritional value of some 40 common food crops and vegetables. The information is clearly set out, easy to understand and is supported by tables to identify crops which combat specific nutritional deficiencies.
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Cover crops in West Africa contributing to sustainable agriculture
Ed. D.Buckles, A.Eteka, O.Osiname, M.Galiba and G.Galiano
published by IDRC, IITA and Sasakawa Global 2000. IDRC, PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON. KIG 3H9, Canada
1998, 291 pp., ISBN 0 88936 852 X
Focusing on the potential of cover crops to maintain and improve soil fertility, this book documents past experience with cover crops in Africa through papers presented at workshops held in 1993 and 1997. There are ten full papers and a further eighteen abstracts and short reports, each in the language in which originally presented (English or French) with an abstract in the other language.
