 Many of the books reviewed here can now be purchased over the internet from amazon.co.uk. You can use the link following most of the reviews, or if you are unable to find the book you are after, you can use the search facility at the end of the page. |
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The living fields - our agricultural heritage
By Jack R. Harlan
Published by Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, CB2 2RU
http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/
1998, 271pp, ISBN 0 521 64992 7 (Pb) £11.95/$19.95
"Agriculture is a divine gift." "One can be affluent by having a great deal or not wanting much." "The aborigines domesticated the land but not the plants or animals." "We are eaters of grass seed like canaries." "Did people domesticate plants or did plants domesticate people?" These are a few of the quotable quotes or soundbites that would delight journalists and broadcasters reading The living fields. But the general reader will not be disappointed either because the memorable phrases add piquancy to the author's fascinating research, experience and observation. If, like Henry Ford, you think history is bunk, read no further. But if you believe that the present and future are born of our past Jack R. Harlan provides insights to the who, what, when, where, why and how of the development of agriculture around the world. He also considers (all too briefly) our vulnerability to future food shortage.
Why, how and where agriculture began is still not certain. And why have some peoples remained hunter-gatherers - out of choice or necessity? It was long thought to be the latter. But the San Bushmen and Australian Aborigines spend at most only half of their week finding food, and energy efficiency studies tend to confirm the Biblical version of agriculture as a curse rather than a blessing, and something to be avoided if possible, writes the author. Yet all our civilizations, ancient and modern, were built on agriculture. So, unless we wish to adopt the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, we are stuck with making the best we can of our agricultural heritage and ensuring that it receives the due care and attention that it deserves if our own civilization is not to founder, like so many before.
Chapters on The Near East, Africa, The Far East and Latin America review each region's major contributions to agriculture today, while further chapters provide fascinating insight to the process of domestication and a range of traditional agricultural techniques including bush fallow, water management and the preservation of perishables. And if anyone thinks that we owe much to The Fertile Crescent or Asia as the foci of early agriculture, Professor Harlan believes that of all the early innovators the Native Americans deserve the greatest accolade. He points out that, "They domesticated some of the most important food plants in the world: maize, potato, manioc, sweet potato, beans, peanut, squash, pepper, tomato, the cotton of dominance, and some of the most delightful fruits, flavours and nuts known anywhere. They delighted in brilliant ornamental flowers and were masters of biochemistry: experts at detoxification and extraction of psychoactive drugs and healing medicines. The American Indian has made enormous contributions to mankind."
The author, Professor Emeritus Plant Genetics, University of Illinois, a renowned plant collector and the son of an eminent plant geneticist, has a pertinent view on the argument over the ethics of plant collecting and the use of collected genes in plant breeding. Nothing is "stolen" he maintains because "No germplasm is removed from a country or a farmer's field that does not also remain." But he does also discuss his concerns over our dependence on a mere five crop plants to supply almost 75% of our food consumption, the erosion of genetic diversity and the vexed question of patenting new varieties based on introduced genes. These are among the issues that will have to be addressed if the still growing world population is to be fed from what gives the book its title - the living fields.
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Women and IPM: crop protection practices and strategies
Ed. Elske van de Fliert and Jet Proost
published by Royal Tropical Institute, KIT Press, PO Box 95001, 1090 HA Amsterdam, The Netherlands and IT Publications, 103-5 Southampton Row, London
WC1B 4HH, UK
Email: kitpress@kit.nl or Email: itpubs@itpubs.org.uk
http://www.kit.nl or http://www.oneworld.org/itdg/publications.html
1999, 108pp. ISBN 90 6832 710 0 (Pb) Dfl. 29.00 or 185 3399 4823 (Pb) £17.50
Women are active participants in crop management and protection. Home and market gardens are particularly the domain of women but, increasingly, women are also responsible for the crops in the fields. And yet the role of women and, in particular, their knowledge of crop management remains ignored. This wide-ranging book covers chapters from countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and, although it addresses many aspects of plant protection, most chapters relate to integrated pest management (IPM). The book provides clear analyses of pioneering efforts of women, but also details strategies for change.
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Pillar of Sand: can the irrigation miracle last?
by Sandra Postel, Worldwatch Institute
published by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.10110
Email: wwpub@worldwatch.org
1999, 314pp. ISBN 0 393 31937 7 (Pb) US$13.95
A key lesson from history is that most irrigation-based civilizations fail. As we enter the third millennium AD, author Sandra Postel asks, "Will ours be any different?" To meet the challenges of a world short of water, a "Blue Revolution" is proposed to dramatically boost the productive use of water. Pillar of Sand describes a diverse and creative mix of innovative irrigation technologies and strategies designed to alleviate both hunger and environmental stress. However, it is emphasized that if the "Blue Revolution" is to succeed, particular support will have to be given to resource poor farmers, and governments and water authorities will have to do more to enforce water regulation.
