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Building complementaries OverviewHumanity faces a major challenge to overcome conflicts and build complementarities between agriculture and biodiversity. Meeting this challenge requires addressing root causes of agrobiodiversity loss, and thus calls for changing practices, paradigms, and policies, as well as commitments by governments and institutions. The conservation and enhancement of agrobiodiversity have been upheld in major international conventions particularly the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the World Food Summit of 1996. These significant global conventions not only establish a framework for biodiversity conversation for all signatory nations, but also include specific mandates for implementing agrobiodiversity conservation measures, sustainable use, and benefit-sharing of plant genetic resources. In addition, at the local level, experience provides practical lessons and promising opportunities for integrating biodiversity in agriculture, but such experience must be strongly supported and widely multiplied. Confronting the CausesDevising effective solutions requires confronting the causes of agrobiodiversity losses. Proximate causes vary under different conditions, but generally pertain to the use of unsustainable technologies and degrading land-use practices, such as relying on uniform varieties and the heavy use of agrochemicals. Yet more deeply, the roots underlying the erosion of agricultural biodiversity are tied to demographic pressures, disparities in resource distribution, the dominance of industrial agricultural policies and institutions that support and contribute to inappropriate practices, pressures from businesses that promote uniform monocultures and chemicals, the depreciation and devaluation of diversity and accumulated local knowledge, and market and consumer demands for standardized products. Of these driving forces, perhaps the most perplexing are demographic pressures leading to extensification of farming into frontier areas. Changing these patterns requires transforming land-use policies, as well as broader socioeconomic changes that give the rural poor more economic and educational opportunities. These longer-term challenges need concerted attention over time.
Diversity Through Sustainable Agriculture Principles and PracticesEffective approaches to conserve and enhance agrobiodiversity fit within a general framework of sustainable agriculture; this approach merges the goals of productivity, food security, and social equity, and ecological soundness. A shift to sustainable agriculture requires changes in production methods, models, and policies, as well as the full participation of local people. In this approach, scientific advancements in genetics and "improved" varieties can have significant roles, but need to be reoriented towards conserving and using diversity in farming systems. To achieve such transformations for the conservation and enhancement of agricultural biodiversity, the following strategic principles are critical:
Applying these basic principles can generate considerable public and private benefits. More specific practices that have proven effective for this purpose have been discovered and adapted in many areas of the world, and are listed in Key Principles and Practices to Use and Enhance Agrobiodiversity. Building upon the knowledge of rural people has also proven to be effective in many contexts to make scientific advancements and to help ensure adoption and spread the benefits of agrobiodiversity innovations. [35] The use of such principles and practices has resulted in production increases, in both small and large-scale farms. Additional advantages include improvement of soil nutrient cycles and soil quality; added economic value; increase in sustainability and stability of systems; and alleviation of pressures on habitats. Ecologically-oriented Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods illustrate well the use and benefits of biodiversity. IPM approaches usually highlight diversity as a key feature. Examples of "best" practices that are effective for insect management include the following: [36]
Successful IPM programs in Asia illustrate that building agrobiodiversity -- particularly using diverse beneficial insects -- is a key ingredient of effective pest management in rice production. These initiatives, coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization, along with government and non-governmental organizations, have resulted in remarkable reductions of pesticide use and increased rice yields. For example, in the national IPM Program of Indonesia, thousands of farmers have adopted IPM methods, which include measures to enhance insect diversity and restore natural pest-predator interactions. By 1992, about 100 pest observers, 3,000 extension staff and 15,000 farmers had been trained through participatory hands-on training ("farmer-field schools") of agroecological principles. As a result, during 1987-90 the volume of pesticides used on rice fell by over 50 percent while yields increased by about 15 percent. Farmers' incremental net profits are approximately $18 per farmer per season. [37] In Bangladesh, thousands of farmers involved in IPM projects have also integrated fish into rice paddies and have adopted agroecological methods to restore the natural balance between insects and other fauna, and have planted vegetables on the dikes around the edges. This approach has increased rice yields and provided new sources of nutrition and has made hazardous chemical use unnecessary. For example, farmers in the pilot IPM program achieved an 11-percent increase in rice production while eliminating pesticides. [38] Practices for soil fertility/health and nutrient cycling also make use of agrobiodiversity. Good [39]
These kinds of soil-management practices have proven effective and profitable in small-scale systems as well as large scale farms. Agroforestry illustrates "best practice" of using agrobiodiversity that also generates multiple benefits. [41] In many contexts, the integration of trees into farming systems is highly efficient, and the trees have multiple functions, such as providing fuel, fodder, shade, nutrients, timber for construction, and aiding soil conservation and water retention. (In West Sumatra, agroforestry gardens occupy 50 to 85 percent of the total agricultural land.) Complex forms of agroforestry exhibit forest-like structures, as well as a remarkable degree of plant and animal diversity, combining conservation and natural resource use. (In Indonesia, for example, small-holder "jungle rubber" gardens incorporate numerous tree species.) Agroforestry systems in traditional forms also shelter hundreds of plant species, constituting valuable forms of in situ conservation. [42] Many of the practices noted here serve multiple purposes. For example, intercropping provides pest and soil management as well as enhanced income. For example, an estimated 70-90 percent of beans, and 60 percent of maize in South America are intercropped with other crops. Farmers throughout this continent, as in other parts of the world have recognized such diversity as valuable sources of soil nutrients, nutrition, and risk reduction -- essential for livelihoods as well as other economic values. [43] A common misperception is that agrobiodiversity enhancement is feasible only in small-scale farms. In fact, experience shows that large production systems also benefit from incorporating these principles and practices. Crop rotations, intercropping, cover crops, integrated pest-management techniques, and green manures are the most common methods being used profitably in larger commercial systems, both in the North and in the South. They represent sustainable approaches to intensification. Examples are found in tea and coffee plantations in the tropics, and in vineyards and orchards in temperate zones. In most large-scale settings, the change from monocultural to diverse systems and practices entails transition costs, and sometimes trade-offs or profit losses for the first two or three years. However, after the initial transition, producers have found that agroecological changes are profitable as well as ecologically sound for commercial production and that they present new valuable opportunities. Using Participatory ApproachesThe incorporation of farmers' local knowledge, practices, and experimentation is advantageous in such efforts in agrobiodiversity and sustainable agriculture. Experiences has shown that full involvement of local farming practices in agricultural R&D -- through participation and leadership of local people -- has had beneficial outcomes and needs to be done consistently. In other words, a farmer-friendly approach is essential to develop changes. An understanding of farmers' knowledge and incorporation of their strategies for agrobiodiversity enhancement increases the chances of success. It can make more relevant by drawing upon farmers' own informal methods of experimenting with unfamiliar cultivars and practices." [50] At the same time, the involvement of farmers as partners in research and development helps to ensure adoption of agroecological methods and can help to empower local people. In Mexico, for example, researchers worked with the local people to re-create chinampas -- multicropped, species-diverse gardens developed from reclaimed lakes -- which were native to the Tabasco region and part of Mexico's pre-Hispanic tradition. [51] A similar project conducted in Veracruz also incorporated the traditional Asiatic system of mixed farming, mixing chinampas with animal husbandry, and aquaculture. These gardens also made more productive use of local resources, and integrated from plant and animal waste, as fertilizers. Yields of such systems equalled or surpassed these of conventional systems. In Burkina Faso, on the other hand, a soil-conservation and integrated cropping project in Yatenga province was based largely on an indigenous technology of Dogon farmers in Mali -- building rock bunds for preventing water run-off. The project added innovations -- bunds along contour lines -- and revived an indigenous technique called "zai," which is adding compost to holes in which seeds of millet, sorghum, and peanut are planted. These crops are in a multicropping system. Animals are incorporated for their manure. In the fields using these techniques, yields were consistently higher than in fields using conventional practices, ranging from 12 percent higher in 1982, to 91 percent in 1984. Yields in the zai method reached 1,000-1,200 kg/ha, compared to conventional yields of 700 kg/ha. Water management was enhanced, and food security, a priority concern of local people, was also improved through this approach. The techniques have been widely adopted, covering 3,500 hectares by the end of 1988. [52] In such efforts, the full participation of women has significant benefits. As managers of biodiversity in and around farming systems in many areas of the world, women can make important contributions and have a promising role in research, development, and conservation of agrobiodiversity. In Rwanda, for example, in a plant-breeding project of CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture), scientists worked with women farmers from the early stages of a project on breeding new varieties of beans to suit local peoples' needs. [53] Together they identified the characteristics desired to improve beans, run experiments, manage, and evaluate trials, and make decisions on the trial results. The experiments resulted in stunning outcomes: the varieties selected and tested by women farmers over four seasons "performed better than the scientists' own local mixtures 64-89 percent of the time." [54] The women's selections also produced substantially more beans, with average production increases as high as 38 percent. The development of participatory approaches requires deliberate measures, training, and time to change the conventional approaches of agricultural R&D. [55] The application of such two-way approaches improves the likelihood of adoption and success of agrobiodiversity efforts. Basic principles of participatory rural appraisal in agroecological R&D include: [56]
In sum, the use of these participatory approaches can help planners and communities to identify and develop "best practices" in sustainable production, i.e., practices that are adapted to diverse local conditions and that build convergence between agriculture and biodiversity, as well as create socioeconomic opportunities. Merging Agrobiodiversity and Habitat ConservationEfforts to conserve and enhance agrobiodiversity must also address the underlying policies that accelerate its loss. Broader policies and institutional structures focussed on agrobiodiversity conservation drive practical, field-level changes. Many policy initiatives and institutions have already been established to address these issues. For example, several international institutions influence and regulate the use of plant genetic resources. Among the key players are the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, and the World Intellectual Properties Organization. Recent important international conventions and agreements, particularly the Convention on Biological Diversity and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, are also influential in setting guidelines that affect agrobiodiversity and use of genetic resources. Concerns about the control of plant genetic resources have led to many intellectual property regulations that govern the activities of public institutions and private companies and that are intended to protect farmers' legal access to genetic resources. Gene banks conserve a remarkable diversity of plant genetic resources, and increasing numbers of agricultural research institutes have begun in situ conservation projects as well. Along with these large formal institutions, many NGOs and local organizations are also increasingly involved in promoting the conservation and equitable distribution of benefits from agrobiodiversity. Policy and Institutional ChangesAlthough many institutions are already actively involved, more coordination and work is needed at all levels to ensure effective reforms and agrobiodiversity-conservation policies that benefit the public, especially the poor. Policy changes that attack the roots of problems and ensure peoples' rights are needed. Ideas needing further attention include: [57]
Building complementarity between agriculture and will also require changes in agricultural research and development, land use, and breeding. The types of practices and policies outlined here constitute potential solutions and promising opportunities. Such changes are urgently needed to overcome threats from the ongoing erosion of genetic resources and biodiversity. Experience shows that enhancing agrobiodiversity economically benefits both small- and large-scale farmers, while at the same time serving the broader social interests of food security and conservation. Implementing the changes and policies suggested in this report will support agrobiodiversity and lead to wide-ranging socioeconomic and ecological gains.
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