Small Farmers Secure Food

By Lindsay Falvey

Book Id: WPLBN0002169846
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 3.40 MB
Reproduction Date: 2010

Title:	Small Farmers Secure Food
Author:	Lindsay Falvey
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Agriculture, food security
Collections:	Authors Community, Science
Historic Publication Date:	2010
Publisher:	Thaksin University and Institute for International Development

Member Page:	Lindsay Falvey
Citation APA MLA Chicago Falvey, B. L. (2010). Small Farmers Secure Food. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
SMALL FARMERS SECURE FOOD: SURVIVAL FOOD SECURITY, THE WORLD’S KITCHEN & THE CRITICAL ROLE OF SMALL FARMERS Small farmers tilling handkerchief sized farms feed more than half the world. They thus maintain national stability, forestall conflict and reduce emigration. Secure food supply is nothing short of national security. Such facts define the poor world, yet are misunderstood by nations that influence international development. Practitioners know that small farmers’ yields can exceed those of large farms. They also know that food security means guaranteeing enough food to survive as a national priority unrelated to free trade. Good governments of poor countries practice this to avoid food shortages and anarchy. Food always comes first – that is the message of this powerful book. History is replete with failed societies that lost sight of the centrality of food and farmers. Today, wealthy country delusions of isolation from instability in the rest of the world open everyone to an unprecedented risk. These matters are, in this book, refocused on the essentials of life, global security and peace. Polemic in parts, it shows the situation as it is. The opening paragraph says it. This is a simple book. It argues for the return of two critical values in international development. The first is the securing of food for a minimal level of existence. The second, acknowledgement of the vital role of small farmers. Dilution of these values means that aid may now be increasing risks of starvation and conflict. Some arguments presented here will be counter-intuitive to conventional thinkers, and so information supports forgotten axioms. The book also notes the responsible actions of the world’s major food producers, China and India, both of which are criticized for abandoning unsuitable agendas of development agencies.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents Page Dedication and Cataloguing Information ii Acknowledgements - Of the continuing past vi Feeding Rome; Feeding the World Chapter 1 Introductory Words 1 Chapter 2 Food, Farmers and Fallacy 4 Secure Food Producers 5 False Security 9 Where Did We Go Wrong? 12 A Short Re-view of Economics 13 Common Needs 16 Uncommonsense 17 Re-Integrating Economics 19 Rights to Food 23 Un-Free Food Trade 24 Food as a Commodity 26 Commoditization Leads to Speculation 28 Lessons of the Recent Past 30 Life and Death Risks 32 Supply and Demand 33 Policy Approaches 35 Chapter 3 Securing Enough Food to Survive 38 Rediscovering Food Security 38 Forgotten Food; Forgotten Famines 40 Fundamental Knowledge 42 Food Crises and Foreign Aid 45 International Approaches 48 Variables in Food Security 52 Food Reserves 57 Food Security and the Recent Crises 59 Informed Policy 64 Chapter 4 Forgotten Food Producers: Small Farmers 67 Billions of Third-World Small Farmers 68 Correcting the Bias 71 Small Farmer Advantages 72 Awakening to the Continued Role 76 Challenging Worldviews 78 Shifting the Paradigm 82 Towards a Small Farmer Friendly Policy 86 Chapter 5 Why Bite the Hand that Feeds? 90 Mess and Confusion 90 Economic Development Pathways 94 The Arrogance of Ignorance 99 Gutenberg’s Legacy of Ignorance 101 We Know Best – Free the Food Trade 103 Let Them Eat Brioche 106 Non-Revisionist History 107 The State of Agricultural Science 111 Institutions Marginalize Small-Farmers 116 Changing Emphases in Food Security 120 Conjuring up Wisdom 125 Chapter 6 Good Governance Starts with Food Security 128 Why Agricultural Planning Fails 128 Causes of Policy Void 131 What is Good Governance? 134 Good Governance of Food 137 Dissipated Security – Weak Governance 139 Good Governance – Absence of Conflict 141 Fiat or Fantasy 143 Rich Country Governance 150 Rich Country Contributions to Food Security 152 Chapter 7 From Criticism to Action: Refocusing on Small Farmers and Food Security 157 An Old Argument 158 Revaluing a National Asset 159 Writing-Off the Party Line 163 Watering Down Dry Messages 165 Small Farmer Irrigation 170 Focusing Research 174 Making Extension Practical 180 Letting Small Farmers Develop Privately 183 Skills not Dills 187 Small Farmers and Innovation Science 189 The Personal Touch of the Small Farmer 191 Credit Where Credit’s Due 193 No One Recipe 196 Chapter 8 Practical Food Security from Small Farmers 202 The Human Plague 202 Farm Size and World Hunger 203 Revising Present Views 209 Future Food 213 Updating Our Worldview 217 Poem: First Food! 220 Some Acronyms 221 Books by the Same Author 222