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200 | Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Report
Figure 5-2. Options for the transition to sustainability. Source: Gomero and
Velásquez, 2003.
external-input farming (Reijntjes et al., 1995),40 integrated pest management (Cisneros, 1992), good agricultural practices (EUREPGAP, 2003), minimum tillage (PROCAS, 2001), and other practical models that enhance productive efficiency and reduce production costs. It is also possible that some of these production systems could move toward stage 2, “agroecological management”, through a more profound change in system management and greater levels of product diversification in farming, livestock and forestry (Gomero, 2001; Willer and Yussef, 2004), as well as greater agrobiodiversity. Shifting quality demands for food products in external markets and the certification mechanisms now in place may encourage these transitions. Incentive policies would be geared to progress in these stages of transition, assuming the conventional systems that do not follow these paths would then be made conditional upon other poverty reduction goals, such as employment creation, in order to receive subsidies. It must also be recognized that some systems of cultivation, livestock rearing or plantations cannot be maintained without a package of agrochemical inputs, especially for combating insects and diseases in large-scale monocrop operations; in this case, they could be subject to the “polluter pays” principle. In turn, the revenues collected could be earmarked to promote further research in agroecology and in agrobiodiversity management. 40 According to the Technical Advisory Committee of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (TAC/ CGIAR, 1998), “sustainable agriculture is the successful management of resources for agriculture to satisfy changing human needs while conserving natural resources”. |
2. Traditional systems
In this second case, suitable incentives would be used to encourage the transition toward stage 2, rescuing local knowledge of agrobiodiversity management. 3. Sustainable system Figure 5-2 shows the different options for ecological transition, but it does not incorporate their economic impacts. For example, it does not show what incentives could be expected from the market so that conventional systems will begin the transition to stage 1: subsidizing the price of |
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