For small farmers who constitute farming majority, farming is a way of life. For them, agriculture is not a technical activity of application of Science for food production alone. For them, farming is necessary to meet their multiple needs – food, fuel, income, fodder, nutrition.
It is not just the farmer’s responsibility to keep our planet safe. By promoting unsustainable natural resources management, intensive chemical based farming practices, we are poisoning our soils, water and environment.. In fact, we are destroying the very base on which the present and future generations have to live.
There is no shortage of inspiring models. These models demonstrate that sustainable agroecology based farming models are the answer to meet challenges of food security, climate change, income security, ecological safety and balances, health for all living beings. A little help in terms of enabling environment, a desire to chart a different path, throw up multiple examples which are awe inspiring. We have tried to put together such examples to inspire you.
Again, we do acknowledge that it is our contributors and the readers who are the reason for the creation and spread of the message of alternatives. We continue to look forward to your unstinted support, commitment and encouragement to continue our efforts to share knowledge for the benefit of everyone as well as sustainable futures.
4. Editorial
Manisha Lath Gupta and Radha Lath Gupta
11. Farmers as custodians of Earth
C F John
15. Conserving local culture and enhancing local livelihoods
Lakshmi Unnithan
19. Scaling up agroecological farming – Capacity building is the key
Siva Muthuprakash and Shashan Deora
23. Sustaining agorecological farming practices – Need for support
M N Kulkarni
26. In the news
29. Farmer Diary
K V Patil and I S Rao
31. New Books
32. Sources
33. Agroforestry – The future of family farming
Dipankar Dasgupta
