62 The Global Food System
The Honduras case examines the experience of several related NGO projects
that promoted sustainable hillside farming, with particular attention to methods
for soil fertility enhancement and soil and water conservation. The projects fol-
lowed earlier successful experience elsewhere in Central America (Bunch, 2002)
where participating farmers were motivated to experiment with new techniques
and to build on recognizable success rather than rely on subsidies. The study revis-
its two of the areas in central Honduras where the projects took place. These are
areas where previous slash-and-burn agriculture has evolved to permanent crop-
ping on increasingly eroded hillside plots; farmers plant twice a year, with maize as
the principle first season crop, followed by beans in the second season. Vegetables
are the most important cash crop. The study examines experiences with techniques
such as in-row tillage and the use of cover crops.
The Kenya case focuses on the National Soil and Water Conservation Pro-
gramme, which featured a catchment approach where communities were encour-
aged to learn about and establish soil and water conservation techniques (Pretty et
al, 1995). Elected local catchment committees served as major actors in the project.
The programme was active from 1988 to 1998 and was national in scope. The
study examines the aftermath in a set of communities in high- and low-potential
areas of Nyanza Province, western Kenya. The principal subsistence crop is maize,
but beans, banana, groundnut, sweet potato and sorghum are also grown. Maize
and groundnuts are the principal cash crops. Farmers in the high-potential area are
able to plant in both the long and short rains, but those in the low-potential area
rely only on the long rains.
The Sri Lanka case examines an example of farmer field schools (FFS) for
introducing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and other crop management
techniques in rice (Pontius et al, 2002). The Sri Lanka programme was managed
by the Department of Agriculture, with assistance from the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). The study was conducted in communities in Southern Prov-
ince, among farmers with access to irrigated paddy land. These farmers are gener-
ally able to plant two rice crops a year and this is a major source of income, as well
as contributing to household subsistence. Most farmers also have at least a few tree
crops and a minority have access to an upland field. The FFS concentrated on
helping farmers lower the use of pesticides, particularly early in the season. It also
supported the incorporation (rather than burning) of rice straw and promoted
more rational fertilizer management through single nutrient fertilizers, rather than
blends that had previously been promoted.
In each of the three cases there was clear evidence of the utility and continued
relevance of various examples of LEIT introduced in the original projects. In Hon-
duras, more than half of the participating farmers continued to use in-row tillage
on part of their fields. (The technique involves planting on the contour and hoeing
only within the row, in order to promote the formation of mini-terraces.) About
one-fifth of the participants were using a green manure crop with their maize and
about one-third had established some kind of live barrier for soil conservation. In
Kenya, more than half of the project participants surveyed implemented at least