Focus on... Alternative livelihoods
Whilst Alternative Livelihood Programme is frequently the name given to strategies developed to replace the illicit cultivation of crops, such as opium or coca, with alternative, legal crops for income generation, in this edition of New Agriculturist we focus on a range of activities, which provide more sustainable livelihood options to rural people. Economic alternatives to opium in Afghanistan, coca in Peru, tobacco in Bangladesh, cotton in Mali and logging in Indonesia and the Amazon, are featured along with cultivating mushrooms in drought-afflicted areas in Tanzania and promoting environmental conservation by raising silk worms in Kenya.
Farmers in Afghanistan are receiving support to grow saffron instead of opium. The highly prized spice delivers about one-half to two thirds the profit of poppies, but does offer some important agricultural advantages, as well as a clear conscience.
In drought affected areas in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania, households are cultivating oyster mushrooms to earn a profitable income.
Soil erosion and desertification have encouraged the local cultivation of jatropha to make soap and other products, reducing dependency on cotton, protecting the environment and empowering local co-operatives.
To reduce dependence on oil palm and provide alternative sources of income for communities who have lost forest resources, the NGO Sawit Watch is promoting the cultivation of cash crops, including rattan, fruit and rubber, in village gardens.
In Kenya, rearing silk worms for production of raw silk is a viable alternative to subsistence agriculture, attracting a good income on a monthly basis.
Peruvian farmers forced into coca production through poverty and a lack of alternatives are being given support to form co-operatives to sell crops such as coffee, tea, rubber and palm oil to a lucrative export market.
Amazonian communities, under pressure to sell their trees to logging companies, are realising the economic value of non-timber products. Andiroba oil, for example, has a growing international market as a medicinal product.
Farmers in Bangladesh, Malawi and Kenya are receiving assistance to move away from tobacco farming and instead diversify food and cash crop production and practise composting to restore soil fertility.
May 2007
