THE population growth has globally outpaced agricultural production and the gap between demand and supply of food is bound to widen even more in the years to come. It is more serious in the developing countries, which are no longer capable of feeding the exploding population and depend on imports from advanced countries. The persistence of subsistence farming has become an important feature of developing countries, where most of the rural people are struggling for their livelihood. The global agriculture is at the crossroads due to increasing population. The increasing damage to the ecological foundations of agriculture and decline in per capita availability of land and water have further aggravated the situation of livelihood and food security. In this context, sustainable agriculture that can guarantee food and nutritional security for the increasing population is highly relevant.

Issues

The chemical intensive modern agriculture has ignored its non-sustainability and high ecological cost. This has encouraged the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers without paying much attention to the natural health of fertile land, which has degraded the fertility and productivity of soils drastically. The use of high dose of chemical fertilisers has made the crops more succulent and luxuriant thus inviting a numbers of pests and diseases. Furthermore, the intensive use of chemical fertilisers and extensive practices of monocultures have turned our fertile land into deserts. Chemical fertilisers have thus increased the erosion of food security through the pollution of land, water and atmosphere. The green revolution has created a perception that soil fertility is produced in chemical factories and agricultural yields are measured only through marketed commodities.

Similarly, the blind use of systemic pesticides and broad-spectrum antibiotics has killed numerous natural predators and parasites of a pest. It has thus generated severe ecological destruction and imbalance at massive scale, which has favoured evolution and multiplication of new kinds of pest menace and nuisance. The repeated overdose of chemical pesticides has resulted in the development of resistance of the pests to many chemicals.

The ignorant use of higher dose of pesticides aimed at gaining higher crop yields has resulted in negative effects in human and animal health. Today, the distribution and sale of pesticides and fertilisers is almost entirely in the hands of transnational companies (TNCs), who eagerly promote the advantages of chemical method of pest control. These ‘chemicals of imperialism’ innovated from the western market are dumped in the developing world when they realise that the chemical is highly toxic and a threat to the environment and biological lives. The developing countries have been exploited as a ‘dumping site’ for their date-expired, out-dated and highly toxic chemicals. Obviously, the dream of sustainable development in the developing world seems to be a Herculean task.

Soil erosion as well as the depletion of scarce water resources has resulted in the reduction of fertile land resources. The introduction and commercialisation of new high yielding varieties and hybrid seeds with unknown parents have intensified genetic erosion and the loss of locally developed, well adapted and successfully grown plant varieties which are on the verge of extinction. We are silently accepting these "gifts" of modern technology to benefit the TNCs. Furthermore, the technology of the green revolution and globalisation has excluded economically poor regions and people as well as many sustainable options resulting in negative changes in the natural ecosystems and agrarian systems. The commodity-centered ‘miracle’ technology for production practices has created a new dependence of developing world on agro-chemicals, seeds, debt and foreign inputs.

The concept of sustainability and food security is gradually receiving greater attention. What we need in the developing countries is an indigenous, bottom up, sustainable, organic farming system rather than the exogenous, top down, resource intensive chemical farming system. The development of alternative, sustainable, eco-friendly, energy efficient and less resource-intensive farming system is desirable for changing the present status of ‘subsistence agriculture’ into ‘sustainable agriculture’. The goal should not be short-term maximisation of yield, but rather stabilisation of yield with the most efficient utilisation of energy and non-renewable resources, and a minimal degree of ecosystem degradation. The technology should be easily available, economically accessible and viable as well as environment friendly. It should be suitable for the majority of small and marginalised farmers. While developing such system, the efficiency of local farming technologies should not be underestimated and ignored. These are typical, traditional and indigenously developed to suit the local conditions. Utmost care is needed for the evolution of national systems for food and livelihood security. The unsustainable and destructive use of natural resources should be stopped and concern should also be socioeconomic aspects of farming along with the sustainability of the resource base. In this context, sustainable agriculture is the only option because it encourages the successful management of resources to satisfy human needs while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource base and avoiding environmental degradation.

It is noteworthy to mention that the civil society groups in the countries of South have been engaged in implementing and promoting sustainable agriculture systems under the banner of permaculture, bio-intensive farming system or alternative agriculture.

Looking Ahead

Sustainable agriculture is the key to ensure food security and livelihood in the developing world. A transition from chemical- and machinery and technology-intensive agriculture to bio-ecological farming systems based on local resources and indigenous knowledge and technology may assure the sustained physical access to food and livelihood. Hence, emphasis has to be given to ensure livelihood security through intensive dissemination of relevant information and technology, employment generation and increased household income. This will help in the sustainable development of the countries with agriculture-based economy like Nepal.

(The author is a faculty member at Himalayan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (HICAST), Gatthaghar, Bhaktapur.)

LINDA Kulis is bewildered: How can a man she worships for saving her city - and her life - suddenly be a suspected war criminal?

"If it wasn’t for him, I would be a refugee. More likely dead," said Kulis, a 35-year-old teacher.

She spoke of Gen. Rahim Ademi, who was a local commander in her hometown, Sibenik, during the 1991 war against Serb rebels. Now he is widely believed to be one of the first two Croats to be indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

Although the indictments remain sealed, Croatian media speculation has centered squarely on Ademi and Gen. Ante Gotovina for alleged atrocities their forces committed against the country’s Serbs. Without Ademi, Kulis believes, Sibenik would have fallen to the Serbs. Other Croats heap similar praise on Gotovina.

Angered at the notion that its war heroes could be considered villains, Croatia has been a nation on a knife’s edge since the tribunal announced the indictments last week.

Many Croats are torn between their first impulse - reject any demands for the suspects’ arrest and extradition - and the realization that such defiance could lead to international isolation and the threat of punishing sanctions.

"This is a moment of truth for Croatia," said Zlatko Kramaric, a leader of the Liberal Party. "Our whole political and economic future depends on how we handle this issue."

Croatia’s pro-Western government, intent on making sure the country doesn’t cave in to the kind of nationalism that raged under the late President Franjo Tudjman, has agreed to hand over the men. It has little choice after neighboring Serbia decided to hand over former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the tribunal.

But unlike the Serbs, who largely abandoned Milosevic long before they put him on a flight to The Hague, Croat war veterans and members of Tudjman’s nationalist party hail their generals as men of valor.

Veterans have threatened to stage mass protests and "physically" protect suspects from extradition.

"It is disgusting to even consider what Croatia would or wouldn’t get by surrendering its men," said Mirko Condic, a leader of the largest veterans’ group. "It’s a question of national pride."

While many Croats don’t support such extreme measures, the issue has revived painful memories of 10 years ago, when the country’s Serbs rebelled against Croatia’s independence. The war brought the indiscriminate shelling of villages and cities, the deaths of thousands of civilians and the expulsions of many more from their homes.

"For everything they did, the Serbs would have to send 50 people to The Hague before we send one of ours," declared Zdravko Modrusan, 66.

Yet recent surveys have suggested that Croats are deeply divided over the extradition issue. Croats can’t deny that Serbs suffered, too: Thousands of Serb houses were in flames in the summer of 1995 as the Croatian army recaptured territory the rebels had seized.

More than 150,000 Serbs fled. Some of those who stayed behind were slain, according to U.N. reports carried by independent media. Even state-run television reported a massacre of nine elderly Serb villagers in Kistanje; among the victims was a helpless, bedridden man.

But some Croats still tend to ignore such revelations. Others blame criminals, or argue that such crimes were isolated acts of revenge common in any war.

"You kill back, even if it’s years after," argued Dane Vlajic, a former soldier. "You’re killing the enemy. Men and women, too. Today, I wouldn’t step on an ant. But back then ... it was a war, you know."

Some politicians charge that the tribunal considers the 1995 offensive, hailed by Croats as the final liberation of their country, was really an attempt to purge Serbs from Croatia.

Many war-weary Croats, Tudjman among them, were happy to see Serbs flee the country. Yet there are plenty of Croats today who feel strongly that all war criminals - whether Serbs or Croats - should be brought to justice.

"The Croatian nation should not and will not be held hostage to those who bloodied their hands, bringing shame upon Croatia’s name," President Stipe Mesic said.

Even the Roman Catholic church has urged Croats, who are overwhelmingly Catholic, to accept the extradition of all indicted suspects. In an appeal picked up Thursday by mainstream media, the church newspaper said that the suspects should prove their honor by surrendering "for the sake of Croatia."

"If they’re guilty, they should bear the consequences. If they’re not, they’ll prove their innocence in the court," said Gordana Fedjic, a 36-year-old secretary. "We cannot all stop breathing and eating because of them."

THEY say that a student’s performance is as good as the teachers are. That may be true for the majority of cases that one comes across, but of course not for all. There are some who surprisingly outsmart even their teachers. This not speaking in the negative sense but which has a positive lining. Good teachers or not (no offense meant) a handful of students just excel in their studies.

Well, if a teacher talks about four classification of something, like a colleague narrated the other day, he/she might have given the sub-divisions also under a different heading. A student who reviews the literatures and the relevant materials prior to the teacher delivering the so-called lecture might get an upper hand if the work has been done meticulously. There is a trap ready for the instructor who just skims through the lecture notes that may have been prepared years before.

Now a in depth knowledge of the subject matter may be for ones who don’t mind the labour and time they spend on getting all the details and facts straight. But for those teachers who have to make a round of many schools and colleges, that is a tough criteria to meet. With the proliferation or what is known as the mushrooming of private schools and colleges, the demand has shot up for teachers in many a subjects. So, where’s the time to make lesson plans or update the information as per the requirement.

It’s not to blame the teachers alone. After all, the educational ventures are now business-oriented. If one doesn’t get in tune with the profit-motive, there’s little chance of staying in the line for a long time. Though that might be refuted by some, it’s true to the last dot. But, profit or business to what extent? Charging the students a hundred thousand bucks or so (I mean for all the students combined) for library use and then spend a mere 20,000 rupees or so and pocket the rest as ‘dividend’! If the study released some time back is to be believed, that’s what’s happening. Can’t say no when you yourself have are among the burdened lot.

So, the more students get enrolled in your college, the more the others want to join in. More money motivates the college management to cash in on the flow of students. This means not only more money i.e. profits but also opening up more sections. The need for extra hands is necessary. More teachers have to be employed. A graduate freshly out of the university is given less preference than the old hands that are already too taxed. Experienced teachers are in high demand. They are coaxed by the college administration to spare whatever time they may have to get the extra classes running. The money matters and it has never been so lucrative before. There’s more money to be made teaching in the private colleges so the opportunity for some ‘big money’ is not allowed to slip.

Though some may disagree that quality is compromised on making a tour of three or more educational institutes a day. But there is still more than a grain of truth in quality being compromised. The question is relevant as to how effective can a teacher be who takes two or three classes each in different private schools. Maybe a few teachers might have been delivering well but can’t say of all the teachers.

Deliver lectures and move on. That’s the philosophy. May be it’s a necessity in times when the inflation rate has really picked up pace. What’s 20 or 30 thousand rupees nowadays if you have to pay for everything right from the children’s exorbitant fees and demands to the high housing and boarding expenses for the family. Work one has to and eight thousand or ten thousand a month earning is not going to help. That’s the reason it might be fair to play to the tune of the institutions that are willing to pay for the services that you may render as a teacher, of course.