Can ‘green agriculture’ save the world?

earth1As the Rio+20 conference begins, two blogs by Future Agricultures researchers reflect on ‘green agriculture’ for sustainable development – an agenda which seeks to address food insecurity in Africa and beyond.

Joanes Atela unpacks the politics behind ‘green agriculture’ for food security, and lists some questions pertinent to Africa to ask at Rio.

Laura Pereira argues that green agriculture is not just for Africa: consumers, farmers and industries in richer countries also need to play their part.

Dr Bert Meertens has also written on the subject on his own blog, looking back at the work of Jules Pretty and others:

 

Further reading

Contested Agronomy: Agricultural research in a changing world, Sumberg, J. and Thompson, J. (eds) 2011, Routledge

(in particular, Chapter 2: On heretics and God’s blanket salesmen: Contested claims for Conservation Agriculture and the politics of its promotion in African smallholder farming)