Agricultural Sustainability and Technology Adoption: Issues and Policies for Developing Countries

Abstract

Sustainable is a concept that is both ambitious and ambiguous. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations posits that sustainable agriculture (SA) has five major attributes: it is resource conserving (of land, water, plant, and genetic resources), environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, and economically and socially acceptable (FAO). Integrated natural resource management (NRM)-a closely related concept-is conceived by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research as aimed at jointly improving human livelihoods, agroecosystem resilience, agricultural productivity, and environmental services (CGIAR). Alternative conceptions emphasize profitability and economic feasibility (Kuyvenhoven and Ruben), social equity (Conway), community building and local participation (Chambers), social learning (Pretty and Uphoff), and other dimensions. These various objectives, criteria, and characteristics may or may not be consistent.