ABSTRACT
Despite an agricultural revolution in the South over the course of a single generation that has produced enormous benefits for farmers, consumers and economies, many of the poorest rural people are yet to benefit. This chapter argues that low-external input technologies improve pest management, conserve oil, water and nutrients, recycle wastes and utilize local sources of water efficiently. By focusing on the import to farms of new seeds or animal breeds, the Green Revolution has encouraged the development of two distinctly different types of agriculture in countries of the South. The first type has been able to respond to the technological packages, producing high-external input systems of agriculture. The second type comprises all the remaining agricultural and livelihood systems which, in terms of area, are in the great majority. Taste is one of the factors in the failure of maize Modem Varieties to be adopted widely in Malawi, formerly one of Africa’s Green Revolution successes.
