Image above: Harvesting organic vegetables on small Indian farm. From (https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dQf7hhNLQmVAxsETO224ag).
Both the United Nations and TreeHugger have been saying something like this for some time, so I won't go into every detail of the report, but here's the gist of what UN Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter just told the UN Rights Council about the impact that small-scale sustainable agriculture can have on food production and alleviating poverty in many developing nations (emphasis is mine):
To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we urgently need to adopt the most efficient farming techniques available. Today's scientific evidence demonstrates that agroecological methods outperform the use of chemical fertilizers in boosting food production where the hungry live -- especially in unfavorable environments.
De Schutter went added,
To date, agroecological projects have shown an average crop yield increase of 80% in 57 developing countries, with an average increase of 116% for all African projects. Recent projects conducted in 20 African countries demonstrated a doubling of crop yields over a period of 3-10 years.Conventional farming relies on expensive inputs, fuels climate change and is not resilient to climatic shocks. It simply is not the best choice anymore today.
Here's more: Olivier De Schutter, and his report Report submitted by Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter
More on Sustainable Agriculture: The World Needs a Farming Revolution! Declares UN Report Stopping Deforestation, Greening Agriculture Better Than Carbon Capture & Storage: UNEP .
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