About the Book
What kind of agriculture do we need to feed the world? World leaders have committed themselves to halving hunger by the year 2015 as a first step towards food for all. But is this and achievable target?
John Madeley‘s new book shows we already have the experience on which to base a new approach to agricultural production and feeding the world‘s whole population. Millions need better access to the land from which the market forced them, and a more equitable income distribution so that the poor can afford the available food. This is part of the solution. But the other part is an innovative, multi-faceted move away from a monoculture production system dependent on ever more tractors and fossil fuels, dangerous chemicals, and hybrid seeds monopolized by a handful of giant corporations.
Instead, he shows it is feasible to look to the spread of a low-external input approach, a reintegration of traditional farming techniques, new farming practices like organic agriculture and permaculture, and a range of ‘green‘ technologies which can all play a role in bringing world agriculture back to a path which offers a viable livelihood to farmers, food for the hungry, and all without harming the environment.
Commendations
"I welcome John Madeley‘s new book as another contribution to the debate on world hunger and the role of agriculture. His long experience in this field has enabled him to draw together many strands in this synthetic volume and I hope that it will help to stimulate decision-makers to muster the necessary political will and resources to tackle the scourges of hunger and under-nutrition that still affect more than 800 million people worldwide. With the prospect of continued growth in the world‘s population in the coming decades, the role of agriculture is pivotal to the final eradication of hunger." - Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
"John Madeley unmasks the global effort to deprive the South of its ability to feed itself, to shift the focus from self-reliance to complete dependence and to move from sustainable farming practices to environment-unfriendly industrial agricultural systems. This book brings out clearly the machinations being used to bulldoze developing country agriculture and food sovereignty and that too in the name of feeding the poor and hungry." - Devinder Sharma, food and trade policy analyst, New Delhi
"A timely book illustrating how a great range of technologies and processes are promoting transitions towards agricultural sustainability that are in turn improving both environments and the lives of the poor." - Professor Jules Pretty, University of Essex
"Food for All is a good and very well-written introduction to agricultural development and John Madeley makes a strong case for small-scale, sustainable agriculture as the means to achieve food security for the two billion people who currently lack it. He covers a huge range of issues, including trade, gender, credit, land rights and the record of the World Bank and UN agencies" - New Agriculturalist
Contents
1. Feeding the Hungry
2. Modern Agriculture: Does it Really Work?
3. Third World Agriculture: Who Grows What?
4. The Hungry
5. The New Agriculture
6. Getting the Technologies Right
7. The Water Spring
8. When Land is Life
9. Women Food Producers: Releasing their Potential
10. The Credit Line
11. Rural Development: The Wider Context
12. The Role of Trade
13. Environmental Impacts
14. Livestock Connections
15. Aid
16. Conclusion: Agriculture Matters
Sources of Further Information
About the Author
John Madeley has been a writer and broadcaster specializing in Third World development and environmental issues for the past twenty years. From 1983 to 1998, he was Editor of the renowned magazine, International Agricultural Development. A contributor to leading British papers including the Observer, the Guardian, and the Financial Times, he has also written for many voluntary organizations including Christian Aid, CAFOD, the Catholic Institute for International Relations, the Panos Institute, and the Swedish-based Forum Syd. He is the author of several books:
* When Aid is No Help: How Projects Fail and How They Could Succeed
* Trade and the Poor: The Impact of International Trade on Developing Countries
* Land is Life: Land Reform and Sustainable Agriculture (co-editor)
* Big Business, Poor Peoples: The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World's Poor
* Hungry for Trade: How the Poor Pay for Free Trade.
