Sustainability objectives for the green revolution in Nigeria.

Sustainability objectives for the green revolution;

1 There has been considerable progress since 1992 in defining sustainable development in operational terms. A particularly useful notion is the division of total capital to be maintained (or enhanced) within and between generations into four separate components: capital from nature, human capital, institutional capital and social capital. This concept (see Serageldin, 1995) accepts that the components may change in size, so that it is legitimate to allow (in a wise way) capital from nature to be spent in order to build, for example, human or institutional capital.
6.2 Sustainable agricultural development therefore assumes that actions taken must enhance the total sum of capital components, even though their relative proportions may change. While researchers are still struggling to find ways of quantifying the individual components, this approach seems to give more direct guidance in the evaluation of whether so-called sustainable interventions really contribute to the total capital.
6.3 The current concept of the green revolution attempts to ensure that all four components of the total capital are strengthened in ways which ensure that each reinforces the other. New communication tools have emerged which allow for a novel dissemination of knowledge in support of changes in farming systems.
6.4 Approaches to sustainable development also presuppose popular support for principles of good governance. Equity issues are central to sustainable development, both within and between generations, and they are therefore important. Truly participatory approaches to the introduction of higher-potential farming systems must be a prerequisite and aim at ensuring that otherwise vulnerable groups in the community, including the young, the old and women, become equitably involved in the planned changes.
6.5 During the green revolution it was observed that the lack of technical skills among farmers had been a disincentive to the adoption of more productive farming systems. As labour productivity must increase to improve incomes, the introduction of draught animals is therefore an important tool for increased productivity. With the lesson from the original green revolution in mind, it can be expected that once new seed and fertilizers are available, farmers will take up the new crop technologies and generate finance for further expansion, for example with tubewells for irrigation.
6.6 The genetically homogeneous monocultures of the green revolution increased the potential for massive pest and disease attacks on rice and maize, triggering in its turn the large-scale application of standard pesticides. In recent years, lessons learned from the initial phases of the green revolution have yielded innovative approaches to a more integrated pest management. A wide variety of techniques, including biological control, are replacing heavy applications of agrochemicals, particularly in rice production, for the tropical smallholder. FAO has played a leading role in the introduction of such techniques in Southeast Asia. The green revolution takes IPM as a starting point and explores more widely the interrelations between natural and adjacent ecosystems and farmland. Maintaining a multitude of options for pest, disease and weed control is a major principle of the new approach. By ensuring a large natural variability among pathogens and pests, it is possible to reduce the risks of creating resistance to specific control measures. Greater genetic variations within crops and livestock also offer new options for control. Another advance has been the development of the concept of integrated cropping system management, which includes both IPM and integrated nutrient management (INM).
6.7 The maintenance of large gene pools, in situ and ex situ, for important crops will remain very high on the agenda of the green revolution. Further advances in international cooperation towards this end will be actively pursued by the international research community in close cooperation with national agencies and within the context of international undertakings. The basis for development, which was hitherto largely focused on rice, wheat and maize, will be extended to other crops, including the mandated crops of the CGIAR. There is clearly further scope for exploration of the genetic potential for increased productivity even when external inputs are low, for example. by developing crop varieties that are tolerant to saline or acid soil conditions, or which can tap more efficiently strongly held soil nutrients. Drought tolerance and genetic resistance to diseases, pests and parasitic weeds need to be continually explored for their potential incorporation in new varieties for farmers’ use.
6.8 There is an increasing demand for livestock products, as a result of both population growth and changing dietary habits owing to increasing prosperity, not least in Asia. While many of the world’s poor still rely mainly on vegetarian diets, the genetic potential of large and small ruminants, pigs, poultry and fish will play important roles in improving human nutrition in the future. The maintenance and wise use of animal and fish genetic resources will remain essential. Past experience with livestock breeding in developed countries suggests that particular attention should be paid to ensuring the survival of local breeds and the genetic resources they represent. Genetic improvement of local breeds must also receive renewed attention in the effort to attain better animal nutrition and husbandry to exploit the yield potential of established improved breeds. The development of sustainable mixed crop-livestock systems forms an important part of increasing animal production.
6.9 A greater understanding of soil-plant relationships has created new platforms for nutrient cycling, thereby reducing the need for heavy fertilizer applications so commonly associated with the green revolution. In intensive farming systems, runoff from fields has caused pollution problems also in developing countries, where fertilizer use is otherwise low. In 1992, the average fertilizer consumption per hectare of cropland in Africa was about 20 kg of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium (NPK), against 300 kg in China and about 100 kg in the developed countries. In practice, in African smallholder staple food crops, applications of less than 5 kg/ha are common. Improving both the access to and the wise use of fertilizer are important components of the green revolution. There is no escape from some simple facts of severe phosphate deficiencies in many African soils and the need to ameliorate highly acid soils in Africa and Latin America to obtain significant yield increases. At the same time, there are technologies available for the enhanced use of atmospheric nitrogen through improved nodulation in legumes and from agroforestry practices, as pioneered, for example, by the CGIAR institutes, the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). While the incorporation of effective nitrogen fixation in other major crops may become technologically feasible in the future, it is not likely to be decisive for the tropical smallholder during the next decade. Biological nitrogen fixation in crop plants and the use of green manure and leguminous trees all require water and nutrient resources and may be in competition with other crop plants. In some farming systems they may be complements to mineral fertilizer use rather than substitutes. Better utilization of subsurface nitrogen accumulations (which now often only contribute to groundwater pollution) by recycling through tree crops with deep rooting systems may become part of the green revolution approach.
6.10 Soil degradation is severe in many areas, both in highly productive regions and in more marginal lands. Severely eroded lands are extremely costly to rehabilitate. Preventive measures are much more cost-effective. Good land husbandry is another major principle of the green revolution. Soil conservation research has provided new options for sustainable land use, also in marginal areas, including low-cost farmer-friendly techniques of terracing, use of vegetative borders and agroforestry techniques. Similarly, conservation tillage using environment-friendly herbicides can play a major role in controlling soil erosion, improving moisture conservation and building up organic matter in addition to being a labour-saving technology. These alternative approaches are less labour-intensive than earlier techniques that farmers often found to be unsustainable within their production systems.
6.11 Good water management is another key to productivity gains in many tropical and subtropical farming systems. The disappointing performances of many large-scale irrigation schemes, in terms of their economy, has reopened the issue of the role of irrigated agriculture² in a green revolution. The understanding of the underlying causes of past failures has improved, pointing to technical design faults, including: inadequate drainage; irresponsible water pricing schedules, which encourage the improper use of water resources; poor general maintenance and management of physical infrastructure; and inadequate knowledge transfers to otherwise inexperienced irrigation farmers.
6.12 Water management in the tropics and subtropics with high evapotranspiration rates and variable water qualities is likely to remain a challenge.
6.13 Modest increases in irrigated areas, often in the form of low-cost high-intensity schemes, particularly in Africa, will form an important element of new green revolution efforts. It will also be important to ensure that there is equitable sharing of water and land resources for communities practising different farming systems. Competition between, for example, pastoralists and irrigators for water and land should be minimized. Linked to the expansion of irrigation should be a new and better understanding of the role water can have in the spread of human diseases, and of how proper management and increased public awareness of health risks can help to reduce disease incidence. Close cooperation on such issues has developed among FAO, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, known as HABITAT.
6.14 Most farmers, not least of all those who are food-insecure, are also averse to risk. Their strategies often involve spreading risk over many activities. It may be more acceptable to them to encourage a wider integration of a multitude of crops, livestock and tree crops into smallholder production systems in order to reflect the approach to sustainable livelihoods that often prevails in economically marginalized communities. But one should not overlook the role that new cash crops can play for smallholders: the successes of the oil palm production system in Southeast Asia and soybean production for oil and protein in India are good examples of farming systems that offer potential for sustainable development. Non-wood produce offers still more scope for increasing sustainable utilization, combining the effects of potentially improved watershed management with increased contributions to meet dietary needs.