New investments in agriculture likely to fail without sharp focus on small-scale 'mixed' farmers
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 17:28
in Earth & Climate
A new paper published today in Science warns that billions of dollars promised to fund programs to boost small-scale agriculture in developing countries are unlikely to succeed in feeding the world's increasing populations. This is due not only to increasing populations and changing environments, but also to little "intellectual commitment" to the ubiquitous small-scale "mixed" farmers who raise both crops and animals and are the source of much of today's food supplies and economic development.