Report: AGROECOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. By Jules Pretty. RIMISP

This document is part of a series of contributions by Rimisp-Latin American Center for Rural Development (www.rimisp.org) to the preparation of the World Development Report 2008 “Agriculture for Development”.

Frances Moore Lappé highlights its importance:

“On every continent one can find empowered rural communities developing GM-free, agro-ecological farming systems. They’re succeeding. The largest overview study, looking at farmers transitioning to sustainable practices in 57 countries, involving almost 13 million small farmers on almost 100 million acres, found after four years that average yields were up 79 percent.

“All over the world poor farming communities are discovering their own power to work with each other and with nature to build healthier, more secure, and more democratic lives.”