Agroecology: giving Palestinian agriculture a sustainable
perspective
perspective
Someone once said “The discovery of agriculture has began the fall of nature” (Michael Pollan, 2007). In fact, at first glance and according to our current state of human development, agriculture, even in its most rudimentary, Neolithic forms, is inevitably a process of simplifying the floral profusion of nature (Scott 1998). Agriculture is a double-edged sword that aims to feed the world’s growing population and yet, at the same time, threatens to destroy it. Our global food economy is plagued with two extremities of "obesity and hunger” reflecting the “basic reality that while food is elemental to life and health it is conceived as a commodity and not a right...and the motive force of profit prevails over concerns about equity and nutrition" (Weis, 2007:13). The current global food regime is characterized by alarming large-scale violations toward animals (Clark, 2006; Singer, 1976; Singer & Mason, 2006) and environments that result in environmental degradation and the extinction of plant (Thrupp, 2000:270) and animal species (ibid:271). The industrializing societies of the world are largely unaware of these environmental violations or at least choose to overlook them so as not to hinder the prospect of progress and profits.
So, today, Palestinian agriculture is besieged not only by its specific constraints such as Israeli occupation related issues, growing population and climate change, but also by the overall crisis of the world agro-food system.
Indeed, at global level, a shifting process towards more locally grounded and sustainable farming systems has begun, accompanied by a general re-shaping of food industries and supply chains all over the world. But this change is not happening at the needed pace and so long several international organizations are striving to give strong support to all initiatives relating to smart and sustainable agriculture, strengthening the global commitment to the cause of fighting hunger through sustainable human development.
Actually, the concept of sustainable agriculture is a relatively recent response to the decline in the quality of the natural resource base associated with modern agriculture (McIsaac and Edwards, 1994).
Today, the question of agricultural production has evolved from a purely technical one to a more complex one characterized by social, cultural, political and economic dimensions. The concept of sustainability although controversial and diffuse due to existing conflicting definitions and interpretations of its meaning, is useful because it captures a set of concerns about agriculture which is conceived as the result of the co-evolution of socioeconomic and natural systems (Reijntjes et al., 1992). A wider understanding of the agricultural context requires the study between agriculture, the global environment and social systems given that agricultural development results from the complex interaction of a multitude of factors. It is through this deeper understanding of the ecology of agricultural systems that doors will open to new management options more in tune with the objectives of a truly sustainable agriculture.
This is even more true if we look at the food system from a Metropolitan point of view.
Up to 70% of the world population will be urban in 2050, while Palestinian population is growing and concentrating according to this very same general trend.
What is needed now, is an holistic approach to food production which is able to unify protocols of action, independently from the place, in order to provide sustainable solutions.
The science of Agroecology, which is defined as the application of ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agroecosystems, provides a framework to assess the complexity of agroecosystems (Altieri, 1995).
The idea of Agroecology is to go beyond the use of alternative practices and to develop agroecosystems with the minimal dependence on high agrochemical and energy inputs, emphasizing complex agricultural systems in which ecological interactions and synergisms between biological components provide the mechanisms for the systems to sponsor their own soil fertility, productivity and crop protection (Altieri and Rosset, 1995).
Agroecology has therofore emerged as the discipline that provides the basic ecological principles for how to study, design and manage agroecosystems that are both productive and natural resource conserving, and that are also culturally sensitive, socially just and economically viable (Altieri, 1995). Instead of focusing on one particular component of the agroecosystem, Agroecology emphasizes the interrelatedness of all agroecosystem components and the complex dynamics of ecological processes (Vandermeer, 1995). In fact, implicit in agroecological research is the idea that, by understanding these ecological relationships and processes, agroecosystems can be manipulated to improve production and to produce more sustainably, with fewer negative environmental or social impacts and fewer external inputs (Altieri, 1995).
The design of such systems is based on the application of the following ecological principles (Reinjntjes et al., 1992):
1. Enhance recycling of biomass and optimizing nutrient availability and balancing nutrient flow.
2. Securing favorable soil conditions for plant growth, particularly by managing organic matter and enhancing soil biotic activity.
3. Minimizing losses due to flows of solar radiation, air and water by way of microclimate management, water harvesting and soil management through increased soil cover.
4. Species and genetic diversification of the agroecosystem in time and space.
5. Enhance beneficial biological interactions and synergisms among agro-biodiversity components thus resulting in the promotion of key ecological processes and services.
Given the revolutionary (in respect of conventional agricultural approach) basis on which Agroecology moves, several authors nowadays agree that this discipline can be defined as a cultural and political movement, as a scientific discipline and as a set, extraordinarily variegated, of practical agricultural techniques.
From this very last point of view, Agroecology (agricultural ecology) consists of a wide set of agricultural practices including permaculture, agro-forestry, organic farming, biodynamic farming, ecological farming, organic manure, green manure, intercropping, biological pest control, and so on.
According to the principles and to this wide definition, PALPASS project narrowed the concept and put into practice the Agroecological approach in order to propose solutions to:
· Urban agriculture: to grow vegetables in urban areas through the adaptation of the Microgardens technique (Artas, Mara Mu’alla, Zatara);
· Rural agriculture: to improve to the Palestinian rural farming system by the means of three pilot farms (Al-Khader, Wadi Fukin and Frush Beit Dajan) where to show and demonstrate some good agroecological practices.
Agroecology in Urban areas
Farming isn’t easy, wherever it is done. All farmers face problems of some sort: weather, pests, financing, access to water, land and seeds. But, urban farmers face these and other problems, such as greater proximity to neighbors, greater regulation by local government bodies, toxic soils and neighboring buildings and trees that block access to sunshine. In addition, the problems faced by rural farmers are often faced to a greater degree by urban farmers. For example, access to land is more difficult and water costs are greater in urban areas. With special focus on water and land (space) access, cost and use efficiency and keeping in mind all the principles of Agroecology, PALPASS project identified in Simplified Hydroponics a useful technique in order to minimize water flows and to integrate agriculture with specific urban environment. Simplified Hydroponics uses everything is residual inside the city:
· People’s residual time: usually urban agriculture practitioners are people with a main job who use their spare time to grow plants at their home or in community gardens;
· City’s residual space: house’s exteriors and surroundings are often under-used. Roofs and walls can be put into production with soilless cultivation techniques;
· City’s residual material: growth mediums and containers can be obtained by looking for common urban waste such as plastic containers, sand, kitchen organic waste and so on.
Moving from this basis, PALPASS project proposes Simplified Hydroponics as a battering ram to face urban critical issues such as poverty and hunger by integrating soilless farming and human settlements.
Agroecology in Rural Areas
Rural agriculture will always be the backbone of our global food system and the same thing can be said concerning Palestine, where the use of land assumes special value in front of the Israeli slow and constant land grabbing. But, if improved productivity is the key to augment the income for Palestinian farmers, the way PALPASS project aims to reach it have to be underlined. Farm productivity and efficiency, in an economic sustainability point of view, could be seen (and it is seen like that in conventional agriculture) as the mere results of more or less performing “machines” (the farms) in front of an a-temporal and an-ethical production system. The agroecological approach grants the possibility for PALPASS project to overcome this limited definition of sustainability and makes it possible to propose several agroecological techniques which are able to boost the farm productivity by improving at the same time their ecological and social sustainability.
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