Sustainable agriculture: A pathway out of poverty for India's poor (Part 2)

Sustainable agriculture needs to be brought back into the development agenda! This book not only shows that sustainable agriculture works; it also outlines what should be done and how it can be done.  All the agricultural practices described in this book highlight in one or the other way how sustainable agriculture contributes directly to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They cover a whole range of improving sustainability: raising soil fertility, capability to cope with risks and withstand natural calamities, reducing energy consumption, minimising risk and so on.

It is impossible to achieve sustainable development without applying sustainable agriculture on a large scale. The relationship between agricultural production and eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is very strong: agriculture is the very basis for food security. Together for the achievement of MDG 1, “eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

Although agricultural production amounts to one-and-a-half times the global population’s basic needs – and is growing constantly – there is still widespread hunger in the world. Hunger is not simply a function of how much food is produced. Differences in purchasing power and access to land and resources are among the major causes of underdevelopment in rural areas. Agriculture can be sustainable when it not only produces a lot of high-quality food, but also generates income for poor people. That means rural development: improving transport, development of market facilities and linkages, improving (access to) information, participation of the rural poor in decision making, providing access to credit and so on.

The examplesin this book have been chosen not only because they have been successful, but also because they can be replicated on alarge scale.  The analysis and lessons can be applied in a wide variety of locations and situations throughout the world.