Industrial Scale Farming Is Flawed: What Ecologically-Friendly Farming Practices Could Look Like In Africa

(MENAFN- The Conversation) African Perspectives on Agroecology is a new book with 33 contributions from academics, non-governmental organisations, farmer organisations and policy makers. It is free to download , and reviewers have described it as a“must read for all who care about the future of Africa and its people”. The book outlines how agroecology , which brings ecological principles into farming practices and food systems, can solve food shortages and environmental damage caused by mass, commercial farming. We asked the book's editor and the South African Research Chair on Environmental and Social Dimensions of the Bio-economy , Rachel Wynberg , to set out why this book is so important.

The dominant model of modern agriculture in the world is based on monoculture, where one crop is grown across large areas using chemical fertilisers and pesticides. It relies on seeds that are owned by big corporations and are often subsidised by governments at a high cost.

The book outlines how this approach to growing food is flawed. Firstly, it carries major costs. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation's State of Food and Agriculture 2024 report, the costs of diet-related disease, hunger and malnutrition and other costs amount to about US$8 trillion a year. Countries in the global south carry much of the burden.

Secondly, the current approach is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions . This happens through deforestation and land degradation, livestock and fertiliser emissions, energy use, and the globalised nature of agriculture. Food is often produced far from where it is consumed.

Huge farmlands also wipe out biodiversity and degrade one third of all soils, globally. Industrial agriculture has many negative impacts on ecosystem health, livestock and human wellbeing.

Agroecology is a good alternative. It uses natural processes such as fixing nitrogen in the soil by planting legumes, and conserving natural habitat to encourage beneficial predators that keep pests in check. It includes planting a diversity of crops, rather than just one, to prevent pest outbreaks, and avoiding synthetic pesticides and herbicides.

Agroecology places importance on building natural, local, economically viable and socially just food systems. It aims to support farmers and rural communities.

Read more: Africa's worsening food crisis – it's time for an agricultural revolution

As a result, it fosters more equal social relations and improves food and nutritional security.

Agroecology also recognises local ways of knowing and doing things, and respects the rights of Indigenous people to seeds and plants that they have planted for many generations. Transforming research and education are an important part of agroecology.

Agroecology increases the capacity of farming systems to adapt to climate change. Studies show how agroecology increases crop yields, regulates water and nutrients, increases agricultural diversity and reduces pests.

It gives farmers more choice about what to grow and eat. This enables them to produce a wider variety of healthy food.

Agroecology can be scaled up through:

• farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchanges

• creating professional networks of agroecology practitioners

• local seed-saving networks or groups that share different seeds that are adapted to local conditions

Read more: Indigenous plants and food security: a South African case study

• solidarity networks: community-based groups or movements that aim to support each other, cooperate and take collective action.

• the revival and use of indigenous and under-utilised crops and livestock breeds such as pearl and finger millet, sorghum and Nguni cattle

• linking producers with consumers and markets.

Urgent actions are needed, especially in the climate“hotspot” of sub-Saharan Africa. Agroecology needs supportive policies and funding. South Africa has had a draft agroecology strategy for more than 10 years but this has not yet been adopted.

Development aid for farmers often undermines agroecology. It typically promotes a“new” African Green Revolution that uses hybrid seeds, agrochemicals, new technologies, and links to markets. However, hybrid seed, especially genetically modified seed, can contaminate local seed systems that are better adapted to local conditions.

The book illustrates what can go wrong. Maize is said to have “modernised” development and promoted foreign investment in Africa. But it has displaced indigenous crops such as sorghum and millet which are more nutritious and drought-resistant.

Read more: Amazing ting: South Africa must reinvigorate sorghum as a key food before it's lost

Subsidy programmes and state support for hybrid maize also back multinational agrochemical and seed companies .

Governments, industry and those funding research, innovation and consumer marketing must actively move away from a maize culture and invest in a bigger range of crops.

For millions of smallholder African farmers, there is a deep understanding of how animals, plants, soil, people and weather patterns are connected to and affect one another. Agricultural development programmes, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides, and genetically modified seeds disrupt these relationships. They can devalue local knowledge and skills in favour of “expert”-led innovations . This means that farmers lose their capacity to understand their environment and their ability to react appropriately.

Read more: Agriculture training in South Africa badly needs an overhaul. Here are some ideas

Lastly, agriculture research and training needs to be rethought. Research and development is now mostly shaped by market-led approaches that favour crops grown by large-scale commercial farmers. A public sector research and development agenda for agroecology needs to be developed. It should be based both on scientific knowledge as well as traditional and local knowledge.

Agricultural research should be co-created by everyone involved. Farmer-led research and innovation can support food system transformations.

New ways of seeing and doing research are evolving. Western scientific and traditional knowledges are mixing in ways that can transform farming. Our book points out that social movements are emerging as a powerful force for change.

We hope to support these efforts through a new, four year, European Union supported initiative to establish a research and training network: the Research for Agroecology Network in Southern Africa. New agroecology knowledge networks in South Africa and Zimbabwe have also been started to coordinate research and develop curricula.

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