3. Reinventing Agriculture: Need a paradigm shift to agro-ecological principles
UBINIG || Wednesday 20 May 2020 ||
COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the disastrous consequences of the neo-liberal development policy that systematically undermined and dismantled the social and the collective responsibility of the State towards its members. In the neo-liberal development paradigm, market dictates vital national concerns such as health, food, nutrition, livelihood and human behaviour. Systematic downplaying of the vital national concerns and its strategy to dismantle or reconfigure existing socio-economic relations and institutions contributed to among others the collapse of public health . The onset of Covid-19 pandemic made this collapse instantly visible, signalling the precarious and vulnerable conditions of all other sectors. This report is to rethink and review the current development policy and reinvent agriculture, an urgent task to reverse the degrading trend in the quality of food, health, nutrition and immunity in order to combat pandemic now and the worse still to come. It is part of a series of report on the actual and potential consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and possible ways we may deal with it.
Officially, Bangladesh achieved growth by one percentage point increase in every decade since the1980s. The Average real GDP growth over the period of five years (FY 2013 - FY2018) has been above 6 per cent, much higher than the average growth rate of all developing countries (4.7 per cent). However, apart from the critique of ‘growth’ as an economic category to assess economic performance, the quality of growth has always been a serious concern to economists of all shades. Despite the official statistics of economic growth, the elasticity of poverty with respect to national income has been declining very fast over time, indicating the gradual ineffectiveness of growth in reducing poverty (Kazi Iqbal, Md. Mahid Ferdous Pabon, 2018). Poverty has consequences for both morbidity and mortality, particularly death by non-communicable diseases (NCDs). According to WHO, NCDs, including injuries, are estimated to account for 67% of all deaths in Bangladesh (WHO, 2018). NCDs also pose the major threat in Covid-19 pandemic as co-morbidity.
There are debates on the actual cause of death and interpretation over the case fatality rate in Covid-19 (Jean-Louis Vincent, Fabio S Taccone, 2020), however, vital importance of nutrition has firm basis not only during and after the virus pandemic, but very basic for the biological survival (FAO, 2020). Nutrition is important for immunity building as a defence against all infections.
In recent years, agriculture became a central concern to ensure health, nutrition and immunity. This report argues that because of the rich biodiversity, earth caring farming practices, and a biodiversity-based ecological agriculture farmer’s movement (UBINIG, CULTIVATING ‘ANANDA’: Joy of Ananda & Healthy Living, 2017), is the most rational approach to deal and manage the health and the nutritional crisis generally, more so particularly during and after Covid-19 pandemic. From this perspective here is what we recommend for consideration.
Recommendations
1. Urgently shift from the destructive model of industrial food production to reclaiming agriculture as the foundation of life, environment, ecology and livelihood. It can start by strict regulation against the use of pesticide, herbicides and harmful chemicals in food production and food processing covering all steps from farm to plate. The profit-oriented industrial agriculture has to change to a biodiversity-based food production system.
2. Agricultural policy of the Government must be consistent with international commitments such as ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Goals’, agro-ecology-sensitive policies, as suggested by FAO (FAO, COVID-19 and Agroecology, 2020) and other international forum of environment, biodiversity, wet land, climate change, etc.
3. Policy makers must promote local and diversified food systems, which are environmentally friendly, protecting biodiversity, territorial and community food self-sufficiency, and promoting seasonal products and local varieties (FAO, 2020).
4. Priority of the agricultural research should be the bio-diverse small farming households producing safe and organic produce both for the household as well as for the community. Stop using research fund, public institutions and agricultural scientists for dubious and potentially harmful technologies, such as GMOs or exotic variety and species.
5. Bangladesh government should immediately solve structural obstacles in food transportation and distribution by removing all constraints.
6. Treat small farming households as entrepreneurs, enabling farmers to access credit and investment opportunities as an incentive for healthy and nutritious food production. Farmers feed the people, not the companies.
7. Bangladesh must not compromise on the principle of ‘food sovereignty’ that is linked to the country’s economic and biological survival. Enabling farmers to participate in the market is positive if it ensures incentives for food production and frees the country from food imports. Farmers feed the people, not the companies. Government must immediately remove structural obstacles such as transportation and communication of food and food products.
8. It is necessary to step back immediately from the high dependence on external inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation and other mechanical and chemical inputs and learn from natural, environmental and biological sciences, particularly agro-ecology and landscape management in order to unleash the power of nature.
9. Stop false claim that standardized nutritional supplements can only meet nutritional needs of the people, but promote diverse food from biodiversity-based food production systems that can ensure proper nutrition to people of all ages.
Reinventing Agriculture
Agriculture is the source of food, nutrition, medicine, renewable energy and construction materials. Most importantly, agriculture is a way of life and livelihood for large rural population of Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the national development policy has always been very explicit in turning agriculture into an adjunct to urban industrial sector, thus turning agriculture into industrial food production, disregarding the very distinctive role agriculture performs in sustaining life and biological cycles. The idea of factory production has replaced the idea of agriculture. Factory requires inputs to generate outputs. Similarly, agriculture received inputs from outside such as chemical fertilizers, pesticide, seeds, etc. to produce food.
COVID-19: UBINIG Report Series 3/ 19 May, 2020
Economists, debating development pathways, questioned the wisdom of imposing development model from the west, on biodiversity-rich countries like Bangladesh branding them as under-developed! The debate circled around the relative role of agriculture and industry as index of development as well as generation of employment. The modern development paradigm views agriculture as traditional, fragmented, low productivity and a backward unit of ‘subsistence’ operation. Such view obliterates the agro-ecological foundation of farming and totally ignores complex environmental and ecological functions done by non-industrial agro-ecological food production systems. Modern development policy assumes that more the food production is industrialized; more the agriculture will release ‘surplus labour’.These labours, free from farming, will gradually migrate to the industrialised urban centres looking for jobs with higher pay. Consequently, the small household farming will wither away and large-scale industrial production units will emerge. Europe and USA has traversed this way. According to these economists, Bangladesh should also follow the path in order to catch up with the industrially advanced countries.
Rampant degradation of environment, ecology and the rise of both non-communicable and infectious disease compel us to rethink industrial model of life, profit-maximizing economic relations and ego-centric institutions. Covid-19 has nakedly exposed the vulnerability of the paradigm that dictates our development goals and foundation of thought. Therefore, while observing the disastrous effect and anticipating more during and beyond Covid-19, it is time to rethink growth-centric development paradigm and strategies and reinvent agriculture at the centre of thought and planning.
Reinventing agriculture means first, deepening our understanding how agriculture is the foundation of our biological life and the safeguard from economic collapse, which is threatening us now and imminent beyond the pandemic. Reinventing agriculture is urgent in terms of defence against imminent threat to our biological existence as well as economic vulnerability. We must prioritize the role agriculture plays in food, nutrition and immunity, and at the same time reorder the relation between agriculture and industry to combat the imminent collapse of the biological as well as the economic life. We must free ourselves from the conventional prejudice that agriculture is merely an extension of industry, a sector for industrial food production, but insist that economic activity must prioritize the production and reproduction of our biological and agro-ecological existence. Agriculture is the only sector that can reduce unnecessary medical intervention. Nutritious and healthy diet produced by biodiversity-based ecological farming can prevent non-communicable diseases in most cases and consequently halt medicalization of life.
In order to grasp comprehensively the role of agriculture in our life, we use the term ‘food sovereignty’ and not the narrow ‘food security’. Food sovereignty focuses on the decisive role of the farming communities to decide what and how food should be produced in order to feed the nation. ‘Food sovereignty’ therefore is integral to national sovereignty, the right of people to defend their biological and economic lives.
Reinventing agriculture requires new awareness, both by the people as well as the governments, of global cconcentration in the seed and pesticide sector. Multinational companies like Bayer (after the merger of Bayer and Monsanto in June 2018), Corteva Agriscience (the previous mergers of Dow and DuPont) (now Corteva Agriscience) and Sinochem ( soon to be merged ChemChina and Syngenta) and BASF are four corporate giants controlling an estimated 63 % of the global industrial seed market and more than 70 % of the global pesticide business. Transformative new technologies and arrival of new competitors will further concentrate MNC’s power and control over global food chain (Mooney, n.a).
Reinventing agriculture recognizes the strength and potentialities of bio-diverse ecological farming. This is the ideal model of agriculture capable to feed human beings affirming life in general and caring all life forms. Bio-diverse ecological farming contributes significantly to address food and nutrition requirements and create rural employment. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognizes the importance of agro-ecological approaches. In countries like Bangladesh, Nayakrishi Andolon demonstrated how farming could enhance the agro-ecological diversity and ensure higher economic returns through the leadership of the small-scale farmers.
According to FAO, “Good nutrition is very important before, during and after an infection. Infections take a toll on the body especially when these cause fever, the body needs extra energy and nutrients. Therefore, maintaining a healthy diet is very important during the COVID-19 pandemic. While no foods or dietary supplements can prevent COVID-19 infection, maintaining a healthy diet is an important part of supporting a strong immune system”.
To maintain healthy diets, FAO encourages everyone to:
1. Eat a variety of foods within each food group and across all the food groups to ensure adequate intake of important nutrients.
2. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables provide lots of vitamins and minerals as well as fibre that we need for healthy diet. These fruits and vegetables also contain vitamins and minerals.
3. Consume a diet rich in whole grains, nuts, and healthy fats such as in olive, sesame, peanut or other oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Such diets may support one’s immune system and help to reduce inflammation. (FAO, 2020)
However, FAO is also aware that in the supermarkets, the fruits and vegetables are available in frozen cans and in the freezing and canning process other ingredients such as sugar, salt, or preservatives are added. It means that industrial model of food production and processing cannot provide ‘healthy’ food free from toxics, preservatives and other unnecessary ingredients.
WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has published a new guide on how to eat healthily during the COVID-19 self-quarantine to keep the immune system strong. The guide also acknowledges “limited access to fresh foods may lead to an increased consumption of highly processed foods, which tend to be high in fats, sugars and salt. Such changes in eating behaviour could have a negative effect on the immune system, overall physical and mental health, and the well-being of individuals globally” (WHO, 2020).
It is obvious that unless we take a firm determination to move away from the industrial model of development and destroy agriculture to fit to industry, we are heading more to disastrous consequences, threatening the lives of all living beings.
During COVID-19 pandemic with Lockdown, staying at home, maintaining physical distancing and personal hygiene (washing hands, wearing masks) are important measures to protect against the infection. However, developing strong body immunity by eating healthy & nutritious food is another important suggestion for protection against COVID-19. This is impossible unless we bring agriculture at the centre of the pandemic management strategy now and for the future. Reinventing agriculture as a life affirming activity is the only principle that can save us from virus pandemic and other forms of insecurities.
Situation of Food production in Bangladesh
The Bangladesh Agriculture, comprising of 55% agricultural crops, 22% fisheries, 14% domestic livestock, are source of supply of food for its population (Wing, 2019). With prescription from the international development organizations and international financial institutions, the rich biodiversity-based farming of the small scale farmers of the country has been turned into so-called modern agriculture depending on the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc. Farmers conserving local variety of seeds were replaced by HYV and hybrid seeds, creating conditions for chemical-applications.
The paradigm of industrial food production dictates the agricultural policy of Bangladesh. The country is using 36826.70 metric tons (yearly in 2005-06), 33371.60 metric tons of pesticides (yearly as of 2016) (BBS, 2017) for the commercial HYV and hybrid seeds. It is a strategy of homogenised system of production to promote monoculture, which benefits mainly chemical, pesticide and seed companies, creating a category called Conventional farmers.
Conventional farmers, with the instructions of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), use pesticide in major crops mostly vegetables and rice. They spray pesticides without taking any protective & safety measures (wearing masks, gloves and other proper clothes) in the crop field; therefore are likely to be exposed to the toxic item through inhalation, dermal contact etc. The rate of dermal absorption of pesticide residues varies with the parts of body such as scalp (3.7%), forehead (4.2%), ear canal (5.4%), abdomen (2.1%), forearm (1.0%), palm (1.3%), genital area (11.8%) and ball of foot (1.6%). For these reasons, they suffer from various types of health problems such as abdominal pain, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, as well as skin and eye problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Program estimate nearly 4.0 million people suffer from severe pesticide poisoning and its rate is 2-3 per minute, with approximately 20,000 workers dying from exposure every year, the majority in developing countries. (Nasima Akhter, 2016)
Despite the discrimination in the policy preference over the industrial sector, agriculture contributed to the reduction in poverty, accounting for 90% between 2005 and 2010 and fostering sustainable economic development (Bank, 2016), mainly because the legacy of non-industrial farming still plays a major role in providing food, nutrition and income for the rural poor. For sustainable economic growth agricultural is a strategic sector for Bangladesh because of its bio-geo-graphical location in the largest delta in Asia with large human resources (GOB, June 2017).
The fisheries and livestock sector have also been industrialised and oriented to commercial production. Like industrial production, they are also dependent on external feeds, chemicals including pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, formalin etc. in the production chain.
Growth of large poultry industries, fish farms and industrial dairy farms has been replacing the family-based small-scale fish, poultry and livestock rearing. Contribution of industrial production of fish, meat, milk and eggs have increased in the last 10 years, compared to the outputs of agricultural farming households.
Official data from the Department of Livestock Services and Bangladesh Poultry Industry Central Council shows that in early 2020 the poultry industry grew by 200%, the meat production grew by six times, milk production increased by three times etc. In the case of Fisheries, the inland culture fish increased to 56% (Ali, 2019) . The Bangladesh fisheries was mostly dominated by open water inland fisheries, but now have been taken over by culture fish along with the introduction of exotic and predator fish varieties causing disappearance of the local fish. This change has replaced many local varieties of fish as well as the livelihood of open water fish catchers.
It is to be noted that big foreign and national investors have invested in the industrial poultry sector and used imported poultry feed, and other drugs since 2000. It is the poultry industry which first experienced Avian influenza – a disease caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses in 2007, causing many poultry farms to close down. They could not recover the damage until 2009. The poultry sector acquired permission to import avian influenza vaccine in 2013. Meanwhile, the government in 2008 issued the National Poultry Development Policy, keeping import of poultry accessories out of the purview of taxation (Ali, 2019).
The poultry sector such as microbiological risk including Salmonella related poisoning, pesticide residues from feed production and resistance problem following the use of antibiotics in poultry production have become the concern for attention of the government and citizens. Government expressed concern through enactment of Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act, 2010, Livestock Extension Policy 2013, and Food Safety Act, 2013 (Foundation, 2017).
The policy of attaining self-sufficiency in food with commercial and industrial production soon turned into a concern for food safety, a major area for infection and disease for intervention by the international organizations. World Health Organization (WHO), Food, and Agriculture Organization (FAO) came up with food safety projects at national levels. Health consequences of industrial food production and associated life styles have started to manifest. The non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, maternal and nutritional conditions are caused by among others, due to pesticides, harmful chemicals in food etc. (WHO, Risk of Premature Deaths from NCD , 2018)
In 2017, Bangladesh ranked 120th of the 157 countries in progress in meeting SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Malnutrition in childhood and pregnancy has many adverse consequences for child survival and long-term well-being. There are also significant far-reaching consequences for human capital, economic productivity and national development in Bangladesh, especially in terms of achieving the SDGs and reaching other development goals. The consequences of malnutrition is also a significant concern for the policy makers in Bangladesh, since about 5.5 million children under 5 years (36 per cent) are suffering from chronic malnutrition (stunting or low height-for-age) and 14 per cent are acutely malnourished (wasting or low weight-for-height) (Mujeri, 2019).
COVID-19 and the effects on crops, poultry and dairy sectors
The “unofficial” Lockdown in the country, with shutdown of the transports, has affected all the sectors depending on transportation for the marketing of their product. The crop sector was facing the lack of support for marketing of their perishable vegetables and shortage of labour for the harvesting of the Boro crop (UBINIG, 2020). The poultry industry has been affected seriously as a result of the lockdown as well. Shortage of chicken feed forced many poultry farmers to close their operation. They are selling their chickens and eggs at much lower prices. As the supply is greater than the demand, the prices of chicken and eggs have fallen sharply.
According to various organizations related to poultry industry, the impending danger in the poultry sector started to manifest since the end of March. Everyday 3027 tons of chicken meats are produced in the country of which 70% remains unsold in the present situation. Because of this, a loss of 210 million taka is incurred every day. The sale of eggs has reduced by 60%, although the industry produces 46.6 million eggs every day. This is equivalent to a loss of 153.8 million taka. The poultry industry had failed to sell ninety percent (90%) of the Day-Old-chickens (DOC) and the sale of poultry feeds had reduced 70% than before. Central Council of the poultry industry claims that more than 350 billion taka had already been invested in the poultry industry, involving approximately 6.0 million people (শামস, ২০২০).
Everyday around 12 million litres of milk worth Tk.600 million (90% of the production) remains unsold. The production of many dairy food products and sweets has been stopped curtailing the daily demand for milk. As a result, the price of milk has sharply plummeted leaving the milk producers in a state of uncertainty. Many poor milk producers are already thrown out of business. Milk is a perishable food item; the farmers have no technology to preserve it. Therefore they incurred huge losses amid the current lockdown, since they cannot sell their milk (Irani, 2020). Small farmers who sell the milk to the wholesalers have incurred huge loss; due to the chain effects of dairy and sweet productions.
Corona-virus pandemic has not spared the food industry. While the farmers could not sell their tomatoes, potatoes from the fields, the food industry could not collect the ingredients of their products due to Lockdown. In other countries, the prescription of vitamin –C consumption the demand for orange juice was high. As a BBC report says, "The immune-boosting properties are the demand-side attraction while there are simply not enough tanker spaces, with airlines not flying, to bring the product to markets (BBC, 2020)."
Government Stimulus for conventional agriculture
However, the government continued to claim that there will not be any food scarcity in the country as “the government has taken measures to ensure food security for the country’s people considering the possible impacts of the corona-virus pandemic” (Express, 2020).
Since March, 2020, different initiatives are taken by the government such as the stimulus package of Tk. 50 billion for farmers’ loans at 4% interest and Tk. 90 billion as subsidy on fertilizers and other inputs. The agriculture assistance that is easily received from the government is for machineries and for the fertilizers, irrigation and the so-called modern variety proprietary seeds (HYV and Hybrid) etc. Government policy is very insensitive to already degraded soil and agro-ecological condition of farming. The privilege accorded to fertilizer dealers, heavy machine traders, non-reproducible proprietary seed companies, etc., will further degrade the environment and ecology of Bangladesh. This will further destroy farmers’ seed system to replaced by commercial seed, thus allowing companies taking over the seed and input market. Harvester machines are provided for Boro rice harvesting. Nothing in the Government’s package supports farmers and no measures are there to ensure a market for their produce. There is absolutely no support for the agricultural labourers planting and harvesting the crops.
The incentive package is for the profit driven agricultural production system based on unsustainable fossil fuel, further enhancing the cause of environmental degradation contributing to the climate change.
In Bangladesh, the agro-food processing industry is highly concentrated. A limited number of firms dominate the market. Such concentration of market power enables these firms to manipulate price as they wish. The market power is used to depress the price of agricultural inputs taking advantage of seasonality of agricultural output. Agents and traders also hurdle the supply chain standing between the farm and the processing unit; they works against the financial interest of farmers. But most pressing issue facing the industry remains the food safety, ensuring food free from toxic chemical, additives or other harmful agents. This problem starts right at the farm level where the use of pesticides, insecticides and fertilizer is very common, then flows on to the production and packaging levels as reflected in the presence of harmful chemicals in many processed food items in Bangladesh. They all together negatively impact on the domestic demand for processed food. The industry has a vital role to play to ensure consumer food safety, which will enable the country to achieve the objective as defined by the FAO in 1996 to ensure food for all that is of good quality in sufficient quantities and in accordance with local cultures (Mahmood, 2019) .
Agro-ecological approaches as solution
Current threat to life is multi-dimensional; therefore, rhetoric or fragmented quick fix will not solve problem. Immediate priority is to protect the most vulnerable and marginalized groups not only in cities but also in rural areas. Solution of local crisis is now dependent on global food production and distribution (Harvey, 2020).
Bangladesh claims to be self-sufficient in food, but the immediate problem is not production but internal distribution. However, the challenge is conceptualising, planning and implementing the shift from quantitative to qualitative paradigm covering all aspects of production, processing and distribution. This is where Bangladesh is in an advantageous position because of its agro-ecological base of farming, still rich in biodiversity. The policy makers must be determined to implement what has already been declared and promised”. It says,“we are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations” (SDG, 2015). There is also strong consensus that agro-ecology offers local solutions and empowers local economies and markets by keeping farmers in the field with improved livelihoods and a better quality of life (FAO, 2020). It is imperative that what has been agreed upon by our Governments is implemented immediately.
There are many examples of how ecosystem disruption causes diseases and outbreaks, as described in depth in some early warning reports, such as the (UNEP, 2016). Most pandemics in fact, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, West Nile, SARS, Lyme disease and hundreds more, have their roots in environmental change and ecosystem disturbances. These infectious zoonotic diseases originate from animals, wild and domesticated. Erosion of ecosystem health, deforestation, biodiversity loss, ecosystem destruction and the removal of essential, natural, protective barriers magnify these diseases (ACB, 2020).
Nayakrishi Andolon in Bangladesh
In the COVID-19 pandemic and the present crisis of industrial food production, food producers of Bangladesh is attracted to Nayakrishi approach to farming. The practice involves in grounding food production on the biological foundation of farming according to the potentiality of local agro-ecological situations. Nayakrishi farmers follow ten simple principles that can be summarized as reclaiming the science, power and the fertility of nature to produce more food, nutrition and elements essential for immunity against diseases from both cultivated and uncultivated landscapes. Higher productivity from per acre of land without compromising quality is achieved through developing simple to complex ecological systems that can sustain animal, poultry and fish. Secondly providing the groundwork to absorb surplus human resources and integrate rural industrial activity in such a way that does not destroy life but sustains an enriched living.
To shift away from industrial farming, Nayakrishi strictly follows the principle of no use of pesticide, herbicide or any chemical that is toxic to life and nature. Farmers select species and varieties of crop that is best suited in an agro-ecological zone. The challenge they face is not knowledge or technology, but unplanned and environmentally destructive policy followed for food productions. Such policy favours food merchants and not the food producers. On the other hand, the agricultural research priority is not to invent technology suitable for different agro-ecological conditions, but genetic manipulation of seed for a homogenised production of monoculture. It is contributing to crop failure and increase risks for unpredictable climate variability. It is imperative that policy makers take heed of the concerns of small-scale farming communities. The right of people to determine their own food and agricultural systems and their right to produce and consume healthy and culturally appropriate food must prevail over the commercial interests of food dealers. Market must not dictate the nature and structure of food production and distribution, but policy should enable the farmer to shape the market to the benefit of healthy food production systems to grow and expand.
Nayakrishi is based on the principles of ‘food sovereignty’ that is linked to the country’s economic and biological survival. Nayakrishi farmers participate in the market and are able to create demand for their diverse, seasonal and culturally appropriate produces.
Nayakrishi has shown in the COVID-19 pandemic that the non-dependence of external inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation and other mechanical and chemical inputs has saved them from indebtedness unlike the conventional farmers. They learn from natural, environmental and biological sciences, particularly agro-ecology and landscape management in order to unleash the power of nature.
Conventional farmers practice mono-cropping of vegetables, wheat, rice, fish etc. They now have to think about the next Aman crop, for which they have to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides on credit from the dealers. By contrast, Nayakrishi farmers never depend on single-crop; they have mixed cultivation of rice and other crops. They never keep their land fallow. There are always some crops to harvest. After winter crop harvesting, they planted Aus in the medium and high land in the drought-prone agro-ecological zones. In other areas, after Boro rice harvesting, they already started seed-beds for different local varieties of Aman rice based on land types and geographical conditions. Thus ensuring seed genetic diversity, reclaiming lost varieties and ensuring food and fodder for human as well as for the domesticated animals, poultry birds etc. They ensure seasonal variations and availability of food; and ensuring the food for cultural and social occasions. Women’s knowledge, experiences and leadership play a significant role in Nayakrishi farming.
For more information please contact:
Farhad Mazhar: farhad@ubinig.org or Farida Akhter: farida@ubinig.org
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