Strategies and models for agricultural sustainability in developing Asian countries

摘要

The green revolution of the 1960s and 1970swhich resulted in dramatic yield increases in the developingrnAsian countries is now showing signs of fatigue in productivity gains. Intensive agriculture practicedrnwithout adherence to the scientific principles and ecological aspects has led to loss of soil health, andrndepletion of freshwater resources and agrobiodiversity. With progressive diversion of arable land for nonagriculturalrnpurposes, the challenge of feeding the growing population without, at the same time,rnannexing more forestland and depleting the rest of life is indeed daunting. Further, even with foodrnavailability through production/procurement, millions of marginal farming, fishing and landless ruralrnfamilies have very low or no access to food due to lack of income-generating livelihoods. Approximatelyrn200 million rural women, children and men in India alone fall in this category. Under theserncircumstances, the evergreen revolution (pro-nature, pro-poor, pro-women and pro-employment/rnlivelihood oriented ecoagriculture) under varied terms are proposed for achieving productivity inrnperpetuity. In the proposed ‘biovillage paradigm’, eco-friendly agriculture is promoted along withrnon- and non-farm eco-enterprises based on sustainable management of natural resources. Concurrently,rnthe modern ICT-based village knowledge centres provide time- and locale-specific, demand-drivenrninformation needed for evergreen revolution and ecotechnologies. With a system of ‘farm and marinernproduction by masses’, the twin goals of ecoagriculture and eco-livelihoods are addressed. Thernprinciples, strategies and models of these are briefly discussed in this paper.