Incentivizing Small-Scale Sustainable Agriculture

Incentivizing Small-Scale Sustainable Agriculture

Neth DanoAction Group on Erosion,

Technology and Concentration(etc group)

IAASTD Overview

International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology for

Development

IAASTD Overview Assessment process initiated by the World

Bank • In partnership with FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNEP, WHO

and UNESCO and representatives of governments, civil society, private sector and scientific institutions from around the world

Uses a strongly consultative 'bottom-up' process that recognizes the different needs of different regions and communities

IAASTD Overview Multi-thematic approach Multi-level: global & 5 sub-global assessments Multi-temporal (1950 to 2050); Involved more than 400 authors Peer reviewed by Governments and experts Integrates local Knowledge with institutional

Knowledge and looks at policy and institutional issues in light of history (50 years) and proposes options for action

Created a common vision of the future of agriculture approved by 58 countries in April 2008, and welcomed by 61 countries

IAASTD: Role

To comprehensively, openly and transparently assess the scientific, technical and socioeconomic literature, experience and knowledge relevant to how agricultural science and technology can:• Reduce hunger and poverty• Improve rural livelihoods, and • Facilitate equitable, environmentally, socially and

economically sustainable development through the generation, access and use of agricultural knowledge, science and technology

Global Report: Some Key Findings

1. Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology (AKST) has contributed to substantial increases in agricultural production over time, contributing to food security

2. People have benefited unevenly from these yield increases across regions, in part because of different organizational capacities, socio-cultural factors, and institutional and policy environments

3. Emphasis on increasing yields and productivity has in some cases had negative consequences on environmental sustainability


4. The environmental shortcomings of agricultural practice associated with poor socioeconomic conditions create a vicious cycle in which poor smallholder farmers have to deforest and use new often marginal lands, thus increasing deforestation and overall degradation

7. An increase and strengthening of AKST towards agro-ecological sciences will contribute to addressing environmental issues while maintaining and increasing productivity

8. Strengthening and redirecting the generation and delivery of AKST will contribute to addressing a range of persistent socioeconomic inequities


12. Targeting small-scale agricultural systems by forging public and private partnerships, increased public research and extension investment helps realize existing opportunities

13. Significant pro-poor progress requires creating opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, which explicitly target resource poor farmers and rural laborers

14. Decisions around small-scale farm sustainability pose difficult policy choices


15. Public policy, regulatory frameworks and international agreements are critical to implementing more sustainable agricultural practices

16. Innovative institutional arrangements are essential to the successful design and adoption of ecologically and socially sustainable agricultural systems


17. Opening national agricultural markets to international competition can offer economic benefits, but can lead to long term negative effects on poverty alleviation, food security and the environment without basic national institutions and infrastructure being in place

22. Achieving sustainability and development goals will involve creating space for diverse voices and perspectives and a multiplicity of scientifically well-founded options, through, for example, the inclusion of social scientists in policy and practice of AKST helps direct and focus public

A Major Challenge and Opportunity: Small-scale Farmers

• Produce the bulk of global food• Are the largest number of stewards for the

environmental services and biodiversity • Higher and sustainable productivity increase at

their level will have a major impact on all the development goals• Critical need to inform and support policy

approaches that address small-scale/family producers, including AKST designed to improve profitability of the sector

Who Feeds Us?

Peasant cultivationhunting gatheringUrban productionIndustrial production

A Major Challenge and Opportunity: Small-scale Farmers

•Pro-poor progress requires:•Creating opportunities for innovation and

entrepreneurship• Increased public research and extension

investment• Small scale farm sustainability – poses

challenging policy choices•Payment for ecological services•Decentralized governance systems and

choices

Climate-ready Agriculture? Industrial

model Food chain (seed to

supermarket) Corporate control Proprietary

technology Consumption far

from production Fossil fuel intensive Cash economy 30% of food

production

Small-scale local agriculture

Food web Small scale system Production-

consumption relation biodiverse Informal networks 75% of global food

production

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Options for Action: New Equitable & Sustainable Way Forward

Empower, involve and support farmers (women) in sustainable agricultural practices, restoration and management of ecosystem services; crop/animal and labor productivity increases; safety nets

Improve access to production resources and remunerative employment on and off farm; recognize the critical role of women and empower them (education, land tenure, add value locally to agricultural products)

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Options for Action: New Equitable & Sustainable Way Forward

Improve markets, infrastructure, and institutions

Expand and disseminate ecosystem sustainability oriented research, knowledge, and technology with stakeholder participation

Bring all sectors responsible for sustainable development into a comprehensive systematic analysis, to recognize that policy decisions in one sector (i.e., transportation) strongly affect other sectors (input & market access)

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Options for Action: New Equitable & Sustainable Way

Promote responsible governance at global, regional and local levels

Invest in long term gains versus short term quick fixes (i.e., deal with the cause not the symptoms)

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Options for Action: Empower, Involve and Support farmers

Targeting AKST strategies that combine productivity with protection of natural resources (i.e., pollination)

Using natural systems to regulate pest outbreaks

Using natural systems to restore and maintain soil fertility

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Eliminating perverse subsidies to the un-sustainable agricultural systems and practices

Leveling the playing field by:• correcting programs that are biased to

large-scale, un-sustainable farming practices

• corrective policy measures

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Providing direct incentives through:• Redirecting subsidies to small-scale

sustainable agricultural practices• Providing appropriate infrastructure

support and mechanisms, including credits

• Research, extension and education services

• Market access, information and support

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Transforming Policies to Real Solutions: Thailand’s Green Net

a Thai social enterprise established in 1993 to promote sustainable agriculture through providing fair-trade market access to producer groups, producing organic products

Vision: to be a leader in promoting and supporting "Organic Farming" and “Fair Trade” through environmentally and socially responsible living as "Life Fair, Live Organic"

With 1,100 members, most of whom are organic producers with registered capital of around THB 1.8 million.

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One of the largest organic producers and wholesaler in Thailand

with over 20 product lines sold through some 40 retail outlets in Bangkok and around Thailand

Operates fair-trade exports to Europe Products are purchased from 8 farmer groups

in the Northern, Northeastern and Central regions of Thailand

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Founded to support small-scale farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices in order to improve their livelihood and agro-ecological conditions in the rural areas by raising farmers’ awareness on the negative impacts of agro-chemicals and the dependency on external markets and promoting indigenous knowledge of sustainable farming practices

since early 1990s, had started revolutionizing the strategies through incorporating economic (market) incentive and revising extension methodologies

established a local organic certification body to provide inspection and certification services to ensure better market access

took advantage of market opportunities for organic products in Thailand and abroad

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Transforming Policies to Real Solutions: Philippines’ Organic Agriculture Act

• Republic Act 10068: Organic Agriculture Act of 2010

• state policy to promote, propagate, and further develop the practice of organic farming in the Philippines

• establishes a comprehensive National Organize Agricultural Program (NOAP) which will promote, commercialize and cultivate organic farming methods through farmers' and consumers' education

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Transforming Policies to Real Solutions: Philippines’ Organic Agriculture Act

The program will be carried by the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB), a policy- making body that will provide the direction and general guidelines for the implementation of the national program

The NOAB will also identify funding sources to expand organic agriculture, monitor and evaluate the performance of programs for appropriate incentives.

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Transforming Policies to Real Solution

Can the CDM incentivize small-scale sustainable/organic agriculture?

Concerns:• scale• monocropping: impacts on agricultural

biodiversity• mono-practices: impacts on traditional

farming practices and knowledge systems• accessibility and affordability• elite capture

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Business as Usual is NOT an Option

You cannot solve the problem with the same kind of thinking that created the problem

- Albert Einstein

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