Book reviews
Contents
Soil not oilBy Vandana Shiva
Published by Zed Books
Website: www.zedbooks.co.uk and Zed Books blog
2009, 145pp, ISBN 978 1 84813 315 0(Pb), £12.99
Irrepressible environmentalist Vandana Shiva is back, this time with less of a clarion call and more of a war cry. Soil not oil begins where a flood of recent books also start - how the global crises of peak oil, climate change and rising food prices are symptomatic of humankind's spiritual malaise and both economic and ecological bankruptcy.
Her India-centric analysis is fresh, informative and frightening. Armed with enough facts to make your blood run cold, her indictment of international development, economics, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, neo-colonialism, consumerism - to name but a few of her bugbears - is hard-hitting and characteristically unapologetic. "The shopping mall and the supermarket are temples of consumerism through which global corporations seduce us into participating in the destruction of our productive capacities, our ecological rights, and our responsibilities as earth citizens," she writes.
According to Shiva, we need to go back to basics: "No matter how many songs on your iPod, how many cars in your garage, or books on your shelf, it's plants' ability to capture solar energy that is the root of it all," because "without fertile soil, what is life?" Soil, she argues, should therefore be protected as a national heritage and small farmers, as custodians, ought to be championed and supported rather than downtrodden and marginalised. And it's not just about embracing soil: when Shiva cries "soil not oil", it is a euphemism for shunning the status quo as a whole, and rejecting neo-liberalism, industrial farming and the international food system, and for establishing a new world order with the environment, climate, and organic farming at its core. In short, this book is a call to reinvent altogether "society, technology [and] economy" - a revolution, in other words.
While her often unsettling analysis is powerful, precise and inspired (her rebuttal of carbon trading is particularly strong), there is, however, one gaping hole in her message: how her new paradigm may be achieved. Organic principles are important she says, because they are based on "autopoetic" systems that recycle their own energy, and these will form the backbone of something called "Earth Democracy", which will protect the planet and safeguard mankind.
But how do we achieve this elusive form of society? Shiva makes it clear that it is urgently needed, writing that we will "either make a democratic transition from oil to soil or we will perish." So there's a clue - the changes need to be sanctioned by the people, but what should we do exactly? Write timely, polite and persuasive epistles to our parliamentarians? If things are as bad as Shiva suggests, surely we should be out on the highways en masse, beating drums and storming boardrooms the world over, demanding action now to save humanity from imminent catastrophe.
And what if the people don't demand it? For that matter, how can people in non-democratic countries go about establishing Earth Democracy? Should it be imposed on them from outside, perhaps, by other well-meaning countries? But that sounds very like the neo-colonialism she so passionately rejects. And how does she expect soil-free Gulf States, for example, to renounce oil, embrace economic localisation and organic farming and shun the international food system? For them, at least, it's simply not going to happen.
Readers of Soil not oil anticipating detailed instructions on dismantling the current world economic system and creating the next, will find themselves waiting for a Big Bang that never quite arrives. So, while Shiva the destroyer is very good at pulling apart the faults of the current system, the process of changing hearts, minds and the status quo and rebuilding a better world - all against a loudly ticking clock - is conspicuous by its disappointing absence.
Development and the African DiasporaBy Claire Mercer, Ben Page and Martin Evans
Published by Zed Books
Website www.zedbooks.co.uk
2008, 272pp, ISBN 978 1 84277 901 9(Pb), £18.99
Every year, some US$240 billion is sent to developing countries in the form of remittances, more than all official development assistance combined. The great proportion of this money is sent by individuals to their family members, and as such has benefits both to those recipients and the economies they live in. But significant amounts are also sent by groups or 'home associations', in support of development projects. How such associations work, and what social and impact these donations have is the subject of this book.
The four groups of UK-based migrants under scrutiny come from Cameroon and Tanzania, and the book opens with a wonderful description of a typical group meeting, with its distinctive rituals, personalities, jokes and discussions. One point to emerge clearly is that such groups are very different; some are well organised, while for others, membership is more a state of mind. And with varying levels of connection to a physical place that could be called 'home', degrees of investment, in terms of support for development, are also hugely variable. A final question posed is whether engaging with such groups could be an effective way for donors to target aid to needy areas and people.
Healthy city harvests: generating evidence to guide policy on urban agricultureEdited by D. Cole, D. Lee-Smith and G. Nasinyama
Published by International Potato Center (CIP) and Makerere University Press
Website: www.cipotato.org and http://mak.ac.ug
2008, 259pp, ISBN 978 92 9060 355 9(Pb), US$15 or free to download (pdf 6.61MB)
"In an era of global urban food crises and rapid, unplanned city growth, how can urban agriculture be transformed from a potential source of health risks into a vehicle for healthier urban households and local environments?" This timely question is what Healthy city harvests aims to answer, using research carried out between 2002-2005 in Kampala, Uganda, where half of the population were found to be producing some of their own food.
The authors consider the viewpoints of farmers, health researchers and government workers tasked with regulating and managing urban agriculture and public health. Studies on food security and nutrition, healthy horticulture and managing urban livestock summarise the potential health benefits, and what can be done to reduce the potential health risks. The book concludes by exploring how the research carried out in Kampala shaped the policies of the local authorities and their approach to managing agriculture and health.
While specific to Kampala, the issues covered are relevant to other African cities. Clearly written and accessible, Healthy city harvests will appeal not only to policymakers and practitioners, but anyone with an interest in urban agriculture and its potential to reduce poverty and make urban populations more food secure.
Gender and agriculture sourcebookBy World Bank, FAO, and IFAD
Published by World Bank
Website: www.worldbank.org
2009, 764pp, ISBN 978 0 8213 7587 7(Pb), US$45 or free to download
According to the Sourcebook, three-quarters of agricultural producers in Uganda are women, a figure that is broadly illustrative of sub-Saharan Africa. But, despite their vital role, women's access to agricultural inputs, land, infrastructure, technology and support services is constrained.
The Sourcebook maintains that these gender inequalities combine to result in higher levels of poverty and food insecurity. Focusing on agricultural sectors, including livestock and forestry, and issues such as water management, innovation and labour, each chapter provides detailed case studies alongside the theory of how to design and implement agricultural projects that take account of and incorporate the needs of women. One example, in Cote d'Ivoire, examines a project in which all agricultural extension workers were trained to design and implement gender-sensitive projects. As a result, by 2003, the proportion of women receiving agricultural advice had risen from eight to 30 per cent.
With 30 detailed case studies and the use of over 300 projects to demonstrate good practice and lessons learned so far, the Sourcebook provides a comprehensive and practical guide to integrating gender through a range of agricultural interventions.
Milk for health and wealth: FAO diversification booklet 6By Jørgen Henriksen
Published by FAO
Website: www.fao.org
2009, 58pp, ISBN 978 92 5 106134 3(Pb), US$15
In order to guard against unforeseen circumstances, it is vital that the incomes and food security of the rural poor are not dependant on one single source of agricultural production. For that reason, Milk for health and wealth is one in a series of booklets produced by FAO to help smallscale producers increase incomes and improve their livelihoods through diversification. Other booklets in the series include Farm ponds for water, fish and livelihoods, Growing vegetables for home and market, and Higher value addition through hides and skins. This series of booklets is aimed at individuals and organisations providing support services to smallscale farmers, as well as policymakers in both government and non-governmental organisations.
Milk for health and wealth covers the requirements and constraints for the farmer, the potential benefits, and the critical success factors for smallholder dairying. These include the formation of smallholder associations, milk collection, processing, and marketing, and the need for technical advice and other support services. Case studies from Kenya, Tanzania and India help to provide real-world examples of successful initiatives.
Sustainable farmland management: transdisciplinary approachesEdited by R. Fish, S. Seymour, C. Watkins and M. Steven
Published by CAB International
Website: www.cabi.org
2008, 263pp, ISBN 978 1 84593 351 7(Hb), £75
This collection of 22 articles emerged from a seminar series led by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK between 2004-2005 in order to explore the relationship between sustainability and farmland management in a number of different contexts. Authors include academics and researchers with backgrounds in economics and agricultural and environmental sciences, as well as NGO practitioners. According to the editors, the book "considers farmland multifunctionality, systems and systemic thinking, the debates over information, knowledge and ethical aspects." Also covered are the different meanings and purposes of sustainability.
One debate concerns the prospect of sustainable farming in Europe. As the importance of agriculture to Western economies has been declining, sustainable farming has come to mean the protection of landscapes and habitats. However, this is seen by many as a form of trade protectionism, because the state continues to support agriculture in order to "protect" rural areas.
While some principles will apply to developing countries, the book predominantly reflects farmland management in Europe and the US. Topics covered include organic agriculture, topical ethical debates over biotechnology, as well as the politics and policies of sustainable farmland management. Written in a very academic style, this book is targeted at researchers and students.
March 2009
