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DISCUSSION No. 145 • FSN Forum digest No. 1325
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Sustainable Farming Systems for Food and Nutrition Security
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Alan Dangour, Aliza Pradhan and Md. Sirajul Islam, co-facilitators
of the discussion
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On behalf of the LANSA research consortium, may I thank you all enormously for contributing to a hugely interesting debate
on the critical issue of sustainable farming systems for food and nutrition security. Contributions have been wide-ranging in both content and geographic focus and have demonstrated the impressive commitments and resolve of practitioners and researchers in
this field.
As the COP23 meetings enter their second week in Bonn, it is clear that agriculture is becoming a critical focus area
for policy makers. At this time more than ever, high quality research evidence is needed to support policy makers to make decisions about how to sustain national and global agricultural systems in an uncertain future.
The quality of the debate on this forum has encouraged me greatly that there is much excellent work underway. But the
challenge is big and there is much still to do.
Thank you again.
Alan Dangour, Aliza Pradhan, Md. Sirajul Islam
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CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED
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Florence
Egal, Food Security and Nutrition expert, Italy
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Florence proposes a twin-track perspective focusing on both the household/community and the territorial level. At household
level, farming systems should be seen in the context of sustainable livelihoods, which should also include off-farm income. At territorial level, we should be looking at sustainable food systems, with farming systems constituting only one key element.
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the contribution
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Bhavani
R Vaidyanathan, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, India
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Bhavani stresses the importance of linking research with policy suggesting the implementation of a process of continuous
engagement with policy makers at multiple levels, keeping them informed, producing briefs that convey the evidence from research in simple, understandable terms.
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the contribution
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Durlave
Roy, Northern Agro Services Ltd, Bangladesh
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Durlave states that to feed the growing population of the world it is essential to increase the agricultural production
radically. For this, it is important to improve the efficiency of fertilizers and of fertilizer practices through continuous research and innovation.
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the contribution
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Milly
Monkhei, University of Agriculture and Natural resources (BUAN), Botswana
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Sharing the example of the failed adoption of raw planting in Botswana, Milly argues that it is of paramount importance
to consider the implications and consequences of policies on different target groups before they are implemented, especially in heterogeneous populations.
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the contribution
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Mahesh
Maske, Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), India
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Mahesh lists practices and technologies that have the potential to mitigate climate change induced risks. These need
to focus on water utilization, adaptation to changing weather, smart plant nutrient practices, carbon emission, energy consumption and knowledge.
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the contribution
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Aklilu
Nigussie, Ethiopian Institutes of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia
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Aklilu informs us that his institute is running detailed analyses of teff and wheat farming system inducing their environmental
impact. Regarding interventions needed to increase the agriculture sector resilience to environmental stressors, he mentions tools to forecast the variability trends, integrated climatic information, development of technical expertise and diversification as
important starting points.
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the contribution
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Mohammad
Abdul Mazid, IFPRI/HarvestPlus Washington, Bangladesh
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Mohammad Abdul stresses the importance of adopting bio-fortified rice based cropping patterns paired with proper post-harvest
processing and marketing links for improving food and nutrition security of rural small holders living on marginal lands.
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the contribution
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Anita
Pinheiro, Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries, India
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Anita argues that the changes being implemented in the current agri-food regime are in favour of large-scale farming
systems and hardly address the concerns of smallholder farmers and resilience of marginal and small-scale food production systems.
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the contribution
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Lily
Dora Núñez De La Torre Caller, Asociación de Mujeres Indigenas Tawantinsuyo, Peru
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Lily Dora shares detailed information on the environmental factors that most heavily affect agriculture and food security
in Peru.
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the contribution (in Spanish)
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