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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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3 POVERTY AND WEALTH LIVING OFF THE LANDBOX 3.2A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTUREKey principles are <strong>to</strong>:• Integrate natural biological and ecological processes suchas soil regeneration, predation, and parasitism in<strong>to</strong> foodproduction;• Minimise the use of those non-renewable inputs that causeharm <strong>to</strong> the environment or <strong>to</strong> the health of farmers andconsumers;• Make productive use of the knowledge and skills of farmers;• Work <strong>to</strong>gether <strong>to</strong> solve common problems in areas such aspest, watershed, irrigation, forest, and credit management.Defining practices and technologies include:Integrated pest management, which uses ecosystem resilienceand diversity for pest, disease, and weed control;Integrated nutrient management, which seeks <strong>to</strong> fix nitrogenwithin farm systems rather than import nutrients, and <strong>to</strong> reducenutrient loss through erosion control;Conservation tillage, which reduces the amount of tillage,sometimes <strong>to</strong> zero, so that soil can be conserved and availablemoisture can be used more efficiently;Agroforestry, which incorporates multi-functional trees in<strong>to</strong>agricultural systems and collective management of nearby forestresources;Aquaculture, which incorporates fish, shrimp, and other aquaticresources in<strong>to</strong> farm systems, <strong>to</strong> increase protein production;Water harvesting, which allows for irrigated cultivation of abandonedand degraded lands owing <strong>to</strong> better rainwater retention;Lives<strong>to</strong>ck integration, which incorporates lives<strong>to</strong>ck in<strong>to</strong> farming,including the use of zero-grazing cut-and-carry systems.Source: J. Pretty (2006) ‘Agroecological Approaches To Agricultural Development’,background paper for World Development Report <strong>2008</strong>, World Bank.131

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