Future Perfect

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] 102

Food, nutrition and sustainable

agriculture within a green economy

Hans Rudolf Herren, Biovision

n order to sustainably secure food and nutrition for all

human beings, a profound transformation of our global

agricultural and food system is required – a shift towards

ecological agriculture, which primarily relies on smallholder

and family farms. The international community will have to

develop and implement a set of actions to inform and design

new agricultural policies to achieve this.

“By selling my vegetables on the market I used to earn ETB160

(around US$10) in two months on average,” says Haraba

Abdulamahid, a smallholder farmer in Assosa, Ethiopia. Farming

is a challenge in this region as the soils are threatened by erosion,

and many farmers lack the means and knowledge to adopt sustain-

able farming practices such as organic agriculture. Faced with this

challenge, Haraba signed up for a training course at a biofarm – a

model farm where feasible, low-cost, but highly effective farming

methods are demonstrated to farmers. The farm, which is run by

the Ethiopian non-governmental organization BioEconomy Africa

and supported by Biovision, has a very hands-on approach. After

the course Haraba went back to her own farm and

started to apply what she had learned. She explains

that she was able to get a better price for her organic

products as they are now of better quality: “I am very

successful on the market – I have earned ETB700

(US$40) in only two months.” The Swiss and Kenyan-

based Biovision Foundation is now supporting efforts

to further disseminate this approach to giving farmers

access to information and hands-on knowledge in

sustainable agriculture.

Everyone should be able to have enough healthy food

and enjoy a decent livelihood, as Haraba Abdulamahid

does in Assosa. It is not acceptable that every fifth

child born today will grow up hungry. But progress

is very slow. Since the mid-1990s, the number of

malnourished people has increased by more than 100

million, despite the fact that the world’s farmers have

been producing a daily average of 4,600 calories per

person – about twice as much as needed. Calculated

ustainable

agriculture

wildlife

food

security

consumption

and

production

patterns

Biofarms provide training in low-cost, highly effective farming methods

Image: Biovision/Flurina Wartmann