Issues for More Sustainable Soil System Management 369The argument that synthetic external inputs are necessary to ‘feed the planet’
(Avery, 1995) is contradicted by the evidence presented in Uphoff et al (2006).
Biologically based agriculture that combines the use of organic and inorganic
inputs can match or surpass first-paradigm agriculture. It should be possible to
produce more surpluses to meet the food needs of the urban poor with more inten-
sive methods given their demonstrated potentials.
Also, the lower costs of production with these methods can make them more
profitable for the poor and also reduce risks of loss when less capital investment is
required. This was seen in an evaluation by IWMI-India of SRI adoption by
impoverished farmers in West Bengal. Even with only partial use of the recom-
mended methods, yields for 110 farmers using both methods were 32 per cent
higher on their SRI plots, while their net profits ha–1 were 67 per cent higher
because costs of production were lower (Sinha and Talati, 2005). Concerns with
poverty reduction and food security add to the rationale for taking the second
paradigm seriously.
4.2 Paradigm change
As stated at the outset of the chapter, we do not expect one paradigm to replace the
other. That is not how the history of interaction between ideas and practice has
occurred. However, as new paradigms gain credence and influence based on accu-
mulating evidence in their favour, eventually new combinations of practice emerge
that suit both the ideas and the objective conditions as well as the needs of those
people who are engaged in the application of available knowledge. The second
paradigm is still in its early stages of development, although it is now much more
fleshed out and robust than when it was proposed ten years ago.
There is need for continuing and expanded research to validate and vary the
principles and conclusions upon which it is based. But this is not a case where sci-
ence will first create new opportunities, and then technological applications will be
derived from the emergent knowledge. Much of the knowledge base for the second
paradigm has been emerging from practice, with scientists then investigating the
new ideas and opportunities with their standard methods of analysis. A two-track
rather than a sequential approach is indicated for this domain, as there is already
enough evidence and scientific justification for application and refinement of sec-
ond-paradigm thinking, supported by government extension services, NGOs and
farmer organizations. Concurrently, researchers have a huge and promising research
agenda before them framed by the second paradigm. Pursuing the questions it
raises should give higher returns to research investments at the margin than con-
tinuing with more thoroughly investigated questions deriving from the first para-
digm.