Food security in the context of energy andresource depletion: Sustainable agriculturein developing countries

Food insecurity remains high in most of sub-Saharan African. That insecurity is made even more acute by the increasingscarcity and degradation of natural resources. Low soil fertility is a consistent problem faced by agriculturalists and herders.The dominant international thrust to increase food production has been to stimulate trade, enhanced by technology and itstransfer. While international bodies acknowledge the importance of small farmers, they operate as if improving thetechnologies, trade regimes and value chains that are characteristic of industrial agriculture will have the same results inlocal ecosystems in developing countries. Price volatility makes access to purchased inputs more risky for smallholders andthe governments that subsidize those inputs. The diverse local contexts that serve as the base of African agriculture are thusassumed to be overridden by technology. In contrast, a systems approach that focuses on sustainability of the localecosystem, social and cultural relationships and economic security can be as, or more productive than industrial agricultureand have a much better opportunity to increase food security in developing countries. Such a systems-based shift inpractices, such as the application of conservation agriculture and integrated systemic approaches in Millennium Villages,have potential of addressing household livelihood strategies and production issues in a sustainable, farmer-based way.Resource-conserving agriculture has been shown to increase yields in developing countries. Priority should be given todeveloping technologies that follow the systems principles of sustainable agriculture, integrating biological and ecologicalprocesses (such as nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, soil regeneration and biodiversity) into the production processes;minimizing use of non-renewable inputs that cause harm to the environment or to the health of farmers and consumers; andmaking productive use of the knowledge and skills of farmers and their collective capacities to work together to solvecommon problems. A variety of models are on the ground in Africa, and there is political will in the African Union toincrease investment in agriculture. What sort of investments, policy interventions and capacity building are more effectivein increasing productivity and the well-being of agricultural producers? Are strategies aimed at reducing the number ofpeople involved in farming and herding viable in the context of a stagnant world economy?