Water contamination naturally follows the liberal and unmitigated use of fertilizers used in production-driven Monsanto and AGRA schemes, but resources are not in place to manage its effects should it become more widespread. Thus, high-yield industrial monoculture may be inappropriate in emerging markets. It is an error to assume Western interventions function in all contexts. This example demonstrates one aspects of industrial agriculture that threatens to result in substantial added costs and net losses for communities rather than income-generation, placing rural populations further from food security. Without dispute, humans have become incredibly adept at producing vast quantities of food in last half century. Indeed, “ven though the global population more than doubled between 1961 and 2013, the world produces around 50 percent more food for each of us today—of which we now waste about a third…… even after diverting roughly half of the world’s grain and most soy protein to animal feed and non-food uses, the world still produces enough to provide every human being with nearly 2,900 calories a day” . As previously mentioned, relative power manifests in access to food. This is true in global contexts, as well as in communities and households. GMOs and other types of proprietary seed have not solved hunger because systemic institutions informed by politics perpetuate inadequate distribution. Higher yields do not address these concerns.
Failure to engage the nuanced networks which dictate a broken food system in favor of simply ‘producing more’ is an approach which has had several decades of trials,hydroponic dutch buckets and simply not resulted in significantly higher percentages of nourished people. In fact, “malnourishment has only dropped from 34-30% in two decades” in Sub-Saharan Africa ; the slight reduction can be attributed to economic growth in urban centers and increases in aid and remittances rather than increased production. There exists a range of potential solutions that have not been sufficiently tested, forgone in favor of agendas that privilege the use of modified or enhanced seed and export-focused farm practices. These narrowly-focused agendas frame proposed solutions, though the problem has not been identified as an issue of poor-performing local seed. For example, South African plant scientists and proponents of GMOs, Arthur and Yobo, point to soil nutrient depletion as the root cause of limited food production on the continent and insist that “crops cultivated by means of organic methods such as…sorghum, millet, cowpea, groundnut…are at risk due to crop pests and their destructive tendencies that compromise high yields” . Soil nutrient depletion, however, could be attributed to the decreased knowledge and application of indigenous agroecological techniques, as such techniques have been slowly replaced by industrial methods since the colonial era. A reclamation of some of the of-forgotten soil regenerative approaches, upon which Africans subsisted for 12,000 years, could prove helpful towards soil restoration in the region and, by extension, improved nutrition.
Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania, Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania, and Sokoine University of Agriculture teamed with The African Centre for Biodiversity to evaluate farmer-managed seed systems in the Morogoro and Mvomero districts of Tanzania, where farmers acquire seeds by saving from previous harvests or trading with other smallholders and still engage in multiple traditional practices that hold promise for a better fed continent. Hybrid seed companies refer to these cooperatives as ‘informal,’ connoting that they are anachronistic and inferior to conventional systems. Replacing the term ‘informal’ with ‘farmer-managed seed system’ is a deliberate effort to reframe and validate farmer methods of knowledge-sharing, seed selection, storage, and dispersal. ACB recommends that farmer-centered systems be supported, protected, and extended to improve efficacy, as opposed to dismantled and replaced by modern high-input systems . In FMSS, rich knowledge is passed down generationally and orally. This knowledge should be preserved through formalized documentation in textbooks and state-managed training curricula, before the practices disappear in the shadow of trending agricultural schemes. This matter is urgent, as inter-generational knowledge discrepancies are presently observed, each new generation possessing less agroecological knowledge than the one before. Though the preservation of traditional seed-selecting and breeding practices is threatened by the adoption of GM and hybrid seed in rural districts, this threat is compounded by the fact that younger generations increasingly relocate to cities and are not around to apprentice. Institutes, such as the Dakawa Agricultural Research Institute, are leading the charge of cataloguing and collecting local varieties of maize, rice, and other traditional species, before monoculture renders the seeds rare or extinct. Such efforts should be scaled up to help farmers and researchers crowd source traditional seeds and agricultural knowledge that can be used to maximize yields and protect biodiversity, providing insurance against single-species pest and fungal attacks.
Despite agribusiness critiques of farmer varieties and the increasing centrality of improved seed in public sector ag programs, Tanzanian smallholders voiced unwavering commitment to local species. Local trade in a range of rice, maize, beans, sorghum, millet, okra and hibiscus varieties is observed. Farmer-led systems include ukupa and mwarobaini, which are used as bio-pesticides and preserving agents. Trade also includes wild plants used to treat malaria, high blood pressure, toothache, diarrhea, worm infections, and skin conditions , which is especially important, as clinics are sometimes great distances from rural villages. 91 crops, wild plants, and medicinals, including 20 varieties of rice, 17 of which were farmer heirlooms, are found in the districts . Maize was the only crop in which altered varieties outnumbered farmer varieties, demonstrating the dominance of local seed. This preference is attributed to both economic and ethnographic concerns. Farmers report that high-yielding varieties are not consistently available. The unpredictability, along with additional financial burdens related to seed and input purchase, are cited as primary reasons for their continued loyalty to traditional species. Local varieties and landraces are adapted to the climactic conditions, seasonal changes, and soil types, therefore requiring less water and less need to otherwise manipulate the land and environment. Local seeds are also more resistant to local pests, especially in post-harvest storage. Improved varieties require more chemical pesticides because they do not have resistance to local insect pests. In fact, to offset the cost of insecticide applications, some smallholders who adopted high-yielding varieties have reduced their acreage . Finally, while hybrid rice varieties, for example, can improve total yields, they do not possess the flavor profile preferred by Tanzanians. This is quite a problematic trade-off for farmers who want the option of unloading at least some of their surplus in local markets. State funds are best used for programs that are sanctioned by the smallholders. Such programs will have long-term impact, involve less risks,bato bucket and include nuanced considerations missed by businessmen and state officials. The Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute and Monsanto collaborated to work on developing a virus-resistant sweet potato. “The initiative was not the result of farmers’ priorities or preferences, but, rather, resulted from pressure and existing technology of Monsanto and American scientists” . AGRA and Monsanto launch initiatives based on the proprietary seeds and technology in their possession, rather than collaborating locally to seek out community assets that could be used to more immediately remedy hunger. Researchers and extensionists fail to consult with smallholders, approaching initiative in a paternalistic manner, much to the disadvantage of all who seek a better fed nation. Resources were wasted on the collaboration with Monsanto, as East African farmers had previously developed a popular local strain of virus-resistant sweet potatoes in Uganda, resulting in a 100% yield increase on a limited budget. Secondly, farmers cited that other issues were of more importance with regard to productivity, such as pest problems like weevils . Failure to include the expertise of smallholders is a missed opportunity. Some farmers in the Southern African Development Community have developed early maturing or high-yielding heirloom varieties; seeds which do not require spraying with costly agrochemicals or the ongoing purchase of seed.
In addition to reducing or eliminating the cost of pesticides and so forth, smallholder techniques can help preserve leaves, external fruits, and other external consumable portions of crops. Cassava leaves, for example, are an edible vitamin-rich green preferred in the region ; if untainted by pesticides, the leafy green can continue to be eaten, adding much needed nutritional balance . Since current policy trends favor hybrid or otherwise manipulated seed, R&D and agricultural extension funding is currently being allocated towards initiatives that promote this approach. However, intricate knowledge of bio-pesticides, herbal medicines, and, importantly, more productive agricultural techniques are exchanged in farmer-led initiatives programs such as those in Morogoro and Mvomero. These valuable knowledge systems can help boost yields, preserve soils, and improve food and nutrient diversity if formalized and scaled up. Such an approach has been under explored. Billion-dollar companies with legitimate intent to alleviate hunger and malnutrition may find more immediate results in partnering with governments to crowd source these valuable stores of knowledge and fund programs that incorporate the best farmer methods and varieties, creating new standards which are taught to all. Agrodealers could become agroeducators of sorts, facilitating learning and professional development opportunities, streamlining the distribution of these techniques, and measuring changes in outputs, dietary nutrition, and long-term adoption to assess impact. At the very least, since this is not merely a repeat of past failed strategies, the approach would present the opportunity to discover new problems and triumphs through a fresh lens which could help better inform future strategy. Many structures prevent yield potential from being realized. To disproportionately attribute this to shortcomings of traditional seed is rather arbitrary. Infrastructure, such as improved road and rail transport and better crop storage facilities, improve profits and sustain surpluses. However, just as water contamination testing and warning systems, these structures are not consistently available in rural and peri-urban regions of SADC nations at present. Therefore, incidences of rotting surplus are common. Food security strategies that involve securing these losses would be thorough and could feed millions with food already produced. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported the value of food losses in Eastern and Southern Africa was “$1.6 billion per year, or about 13.5% of total value grain production” . This value is equivalent to annual cereal imports to the region, demonstrating that in the race towards food security, many nations are simply ‘running in place.’ UN Food and Agriculture Organization Deputy Director, Maria Helena Semedo explains that “lost food could meet the minimum annual food requirements of at least 48 million people……addressing waste across the entire food chain must be a critical pillar of future national food strategies” , for malnourished nations cannot afford these losses. For regions that already struggled with losses, increasing production is not responsible and has only increased food waste during this era of neoliberal intervention. Decades ago, numerous UN reports listed post-harvest food loss as a priority in remedying the global hunger issue. Reports from 1975 detail the relative efficacy of filling in gaps in existing structures, rather than simply funneling in new interventions. Past programs, such as the UNFAO Prevention of Food Losses Program and the Global Postharvest Forum eventually became underutilized and no existing efforts have replaced them . Where once there was emphasis on narrowing in on shortcomings on the ground, years later, “policy shifted to emphasize food security through economic liberalization and trade……forgotten the importance of post harvest food losses in the African grain sector . Organized efforts to capture more of the total output from existing plots of traditional varieties is one route toward staving off hunger and securing more predictable profits for smallholders without adapting to new seed varieties. Programs aimed at such efforts would represent an accessible start to hunger reduction. Silos, granaries, and drying systems that protect from bacteria, fungi, and rodents are one-time investments from which smallholders may derive repeat use, as opposed to complex infrastructure like industrial irrigation systems that require ongoing maintenance, or continued investments in GM and hybrid seeds which must be regularly repurchased. Hunger alleviation initiatives seem to start and end with increased food production. Current programs fail to integrate value chain interventions and narrowly focus on “stand-alone upgrades” . In addition to the issue of improper storage, production-driven initiatives do not include efforts to streamline or better organize the transport of harvests from farms to town and urban centers where smallholders may secure buyers.