The list of problems facing East Africa's farmers is long: erratic rainfall and frequent droughts, infertile and eroding soils, conflict over land and resources, a lack of markets for produce, the scourge of AIDS... Infrastructure such as roads and electricity are scant, and structural adjustment programmes have eliminated subsidies, guaranteed prices and extension services. This book shows how sustainable agriculture can enable East Africa's farmers overcome these problems and pull themselves out of poverty. Nine examples from Kenya and Tanzania cover a wide range of farming techniques (soil and water conservation, agroforestry, integrated agriculture, improved cropping systems, conservation agriculture), livestock raising (dairy goats), extension methods (farmer field schools), marketing (organic farming) and networking approaches. Replicating these approaches on a wide scale would have a major impact on the prosperity of rural areas in the region. Government policies are key to this. The book discusses changes needed in the policy environment to foster sustainable agriculture. It also discusses ways that development organizations can scale up their efforts so that more people can benefit from successful approaches. Sustainet is an initiative of the German Council for Sustainable Development in partnership with Bread for the World, German Agro Action, Misereor and GTZ (in Germany) and local organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Contents
Published 2006 by GTZ Sustainet. Download full text
Also available from the Sustainet website, www.sustainet.org Role of Paul Mundy: Writeshop manager, editing, desktop publishing, overall responsibility for production |
2914 kb