"Governments and international agencies urgently need to boost ecological farming techniques to increase food production and save the climate," said UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter...
"Today, most efforts are made towards large-scale investments in land - including many instances of land grabbing - and towards a 'Green Revolution' model to boost food production: improved seeds, chemical fertilisers and machines," the Special Rapporteur remarked. "But scant attention has been paid to agroecological methods that have been shown to improve food production and farmers' incomes, while at the same time protecting the soil, water, and climate."
The widest study ever conducted on agroecological approaches (Jules Pretty, Essex University, UK) covered 286 projects in 57 developing countries, representing a total surface of 37 million hectares: the average crop yield gain was 79%. Concrete examples of 'agroecological success stories' abound in Africa.
