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Small-farmer Sust. Agric. Economics



The Economics of Small-Farmer Sustainable Agriculture.

This is a request for information and/or ideas about  documenting
the microeconomic aspects of peasant farmer organic and
sustainable agriculture and marketing (as opposed to the high
cash-cost green revolution model characterized by high dependence
on external resources, chemical contamination, etc.) in Honduras,
Central America, Latin America, and elsewhere in the world.

We are looking for literature, studies, papers, reports, cases,
etc. that  document the costs, changes in production, labor
requirements, transition times, etc. of moving towards more
sustainable agricultural practices such as those that conserve and
improve soil quality, conserve and improve water management,
reduce harmful chemical use, increase crop and other biodiversity,
depend more on local resources, etc.

The purpose of this request is to help us at the Inter-American
Foundation (IAF) assist grassroots organizations and NGOs that we
support in Latin America to better document the economics of
small-farmer sustainable agriculture.  One purpose of this
documentation effort is to attract increased interest and support
>from  national and international funders, banks,  and other
agencies, and make the case for a small-farmer agroecological
development model that strengthens food security, provides
income/jobs, reduces rural emigration, and recognizes the unique
social, economic,food security, and environmental role peasant
farmers play in Central America and other rural societies  - in
contrast to the current structural adjustment, privatized,
economies-of-scale, export oriented, free-trade, model that
currently dominates policy circles.

In Honduras we have done some initial consultation with a variety
of NGOs and sustainable agriculture networks which have told us
that documenting the economics of peasant farmer sustainable
agriculture (of which there are many good examples in Honduras) is
vital for increasing outside support but few groups are doing it
and there are a variety of pitfalls and difficulties in the
documentation process.  For this reason we are looking for
examples of other attempts at documentation so as to pass on
lessons learned.