Agriculture: Developing food security

The roots of food insecurity in rural areas lie primarily in the poverty of natural resources. They are worsened by the irrational use of agro-chemical inputs, by production systems which are unsuited to local realities and, above all, by lack of information.

It is in these conditions that the poorest communities have to exist, under the threat of malnutrition. They need training and low-cost, appropriate technologies to be able to produce enough vegetables locally and efficiently to meet their basic needs.

Antenna works to improve living conditions in rural areas by promoting the practice of proximity agriculture (growing for local needs) in ways that respect the environment and public health. As part of a robust network of practitioner partners in Africa and in India, we participate in proximity micro-agriculture projects, by means of appropriate agricultural technologies.

… by promoting proximity micro-agriculture

There are several popular terms for ‘proximity micro-agriculture’: home gardens, household kitchen gardens, family gardens and micro-gardening all fit the bill, by and large. The practice is largely under-estimated in strategies for reducing food insecurity and malnutrition in developing countries. Antenna actively promotes home and micro-gardens as a way for families with low-income and no land rights to grow their own fruit and vegetables and thus build up their own autonomy.

With our partners in Mali, we are trialling new technologies for micro-agriculture in order to demonstrate that an alternative future food path is feasible.

… through developing appropriate, accessible agricultural technologies

One general thrust of Antenna’s work is to identify, develop and promote effective and appropriate technologies for people with scarce resources. Together with a team of researchers, we are putting this to practice through the development of industrial-scale manufacture of an organic fertiliser. This product contributes to sound and sustainable agriculture, while having lower costs and higher yields than chemical inputs.

Elsewhere, we have partnered with International Development Enterprises (www.ideorg.org ) in the dissemination of low-cost micro-irrigation systems for small farmers in developing countries.