Sustainable Agriculture

Rose Cicy, 35, a mother of 7 children tends to citrus seedlings in her nursery.

Photo: James Akena/ActionAid

Climate change threatens the livelihoods of many farmers around the world. More long term changes in the patterns of temperature and precipitation from climate change will harm poor smallholder farmers who do not have the means to cope.

Throughout 2010, extreme weather conditions were seen all over the world—including the earthquake in Haiti, heat and drought in Russia that caused the wildfires and grain embargos, and the unprecedented floods in Pakistan. These conditions brought about negative impacts on many peoples’ livelihoods and heightened the need for building farmers’ resilience against the effects of climate change.

At ActionAid, we’re working with our partners to promote sustainable agriculture and improved market access to address people’s right to food in the context of climate change. Sustainable agriculture is a way of life based on self-reliant and agro-ecological systems that encompass all forms of livelihoods for smallholder farmers, farm workers, landless people, pastoralists, livestock farmers, fisheries and hunter-gatherers.

The sustainable agriculture approach promotes the ability of farmers, particularly smallholders, to gain access and own their resources such as land, water, forest, pastures, genes and seeds. It also allows them to use those resources to secure their livelihood with the support of socially, economically, and environmentally appropriate technologies.

Environmental awareness and knowledge of the richness of diversity has proven to be a huge factor in our agricultural development. Based on the principle of agroecology, we are aspiring towards improving access to water and good healthy living.

– Léa Santos, President of a smallholder farmers’ union in Paraiba, Brazil