MIND! NEW IN PRINT

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25 September 2013

Nature and culture: Rebuilding lost connections

  1. Pilgrim and J. Pretty (eds.), 2013. Routledge, Oxon. 368 pages.

That biodiversity and cultural diversity form the basis of resilience, that they are both in decline, and that something must be done about it, is all well recognised. Cultural diversity and biodiversity are, however, often seen as two distinct entities, and efforts to tackle their loss are only directed at one or the other. According to this book, this division is rooted in the common disciplinary divide between the natural and the social sciences and in the modernist tendency to subject nature to human control. The authors argue that an approach is needed that (re)integrates cultural diversity and biodiversity. A start is made in sections on science, landscapes, hunting and agriculture.


Diversifying food and diets: Using agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition and health

  1. Fanzo, D. Hunter, T. Borelli and F. Mattei, 2013. Routledge, Oxon. 275 pages.

With 868 million food insecure people, 2 billion suffering from micronutrient deficiency and 1.4 billion overweight, something is not quite right with our global food system. Agriculture, this book argues, needs to play a new role. One that will improve dietary diversity and create value chains that are more nutrition-sensitive. Agrobiodiversity plays a key role here as it can improve dietary diversity, provide a safeguard against hunger and strengthen local food systems. The first part of the book looks at approaches that provide stronger links between agriculture, biodiversity and nutrition. The second looks at creating an enabling environment to mobilise agrobiodiversity for improved food and nutritional security. This is complemented by a third section which presents successful case studies.


Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security: A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security

HLPE, 2013. Rome. 110 pages.

The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security is back with another publication. Upon request of the Committee on World Food Security, this report seeks to identify the constraints to investment in smallholder agriculture and ways to overcome them. The report elaborates on some essential but often overlooked issues. This includes the delicate task of defining smallholder agriculture, understanding what it covers and what the scope and purpose of investments should be. The report shows the many obstacles that make it difficult for farmers to access assets, markets and institutions. It also elaborates on strategies that have proved effective in overcoming these obstacles and provides a set of policy recommendations.


Restoring the soil: A guide for using green manure/cover crops to improve the food security of smallholder farmers

  1. Bunch, 2013. Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Winnipeg. 94 pages.

Green manures and cover crops are back in favour, but the challenge for farmers is to pick the right ones: this is no easy task. More than a hundred different cover crops and hundreds of cover-cropping systems are currently used by farmers. Cover crops are used for different purposes including fertilisation, weed control and as a source of food. Many factors must be taken into account to select an appropriate crop, from the existing cropping system to land ownership patterns. This book is a guide to selecting the appropriate cover crop and is based on the rich and diverse practices of smallholder farmers around the world.


Organic agriculture: African experiences in resilience and sustainability

  1. Auerbach, G. Rundgren and N. El-Hage Scialabba, 2013. FAO, Rome. 200 pages.

There are plenty of organic agriculture success stories in Africa and this book contains some of them. It expands on the research presented at the “Mainstreaming organic agriculture in the African development agenda” conference held in Lusaka. The book shows that success lies in whole farm management, healthy soils and effective nutrient cycling. It argues that the focus of organic agriculture should not be on substituting chemical inputs with external organic ones. Instead, natural processes should be enhanced and complex plant and animal interactions managed to reduce the need for external inputs. This can only be achieved by building on traditional community knowledge. The book contains sections on community-based livestock systems, eco-functional intensification and smallholder knowledge.


Alternative crops for drylands: Proactively adapting to climate change and water shortages

S. O’Bar 2013, Amaigabe press, Santa Barbara. 324 pages.

This book describes an extensive number of alternative dryland crops around the world. These are important because they require little water and are edible, medicinal or have some other use. Most are trees that are resilient to drought, give relatively high yields and require little maintenance. Some of the plants described have been used by indigenous communities for generations but are disappearing due to the spread of modern agriculture. The book contains information ranging from botanical features to culinary uses and ethno-botanical features. A reference list allows the reader to find plants with specific characteristics, including nitrogen fixing properties, and shade tolerant and salt tolerant species.


More on education

The assumed superiority of scientific knowledge is coming under increasing scrutiny and the importance of other forms of knowledge and learning is being increasingly recognised. In “The university at a crossroads”, Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2012) explores whether the university as we know it has a future in producing knowledge that is relevant to society. The website of the Paulo Freire Institute presents tools and approaches that use people’s knowledge and life experiences as the raw materials for education. In “Learning for sustainability in times of accelerating change” (A. Wals and P.B. Corcoran, eds., 2012), the authors explore the possibilities for designing and facilitating learning-based change.

Articulating these plural forms of knowledge requires new approaches to education and research. The Excluded Voices Initiative challenges the often narrow interests of agricultural research. It aims to make the voices of small-scale producers and other excluded citizens heard, and count, in the governance and process of agricultural research. The website contains several resources, including the workshop report “Democratising the governance of food systems: citizens rethinking food and agricultural research for the public good”. A similar perspective is taken in the publications: “Democratising agricultural research for food sovereignty in West Africa” (M. Pimbert et al. 2011) and “Participatory research and on-farm management of agricultural biodiversity in Europe” (M. Pimbert, 2011). (LvdB)