Sustainable Agriculture in the Middle Eastern Context: Why Prevailing Models Won't Work

Abstract

Contemporary agricultural literature is replete with definitions of sustainable agriculture. These definitions share a concern for the preservation of the natural resource base in order to maintain productivity at a rate that conforms with the needs of an increasing world population. A number of models have been suggested for the accomplishment of this endeavor. These usually entail action for change at the human, policy, political, infrastructural, institutional, economic and technological levels (Rukuni 1994). Sub-models outline, in turn, the framework for change in each of these sectors. The specific case of technology development and use is particularly critical for sustainable agriculture, as technology may be perceived simultaneously as resource damaging and resource enhancing. The technologies associated with the Green Revolution and the ensuing environmental and socio-economic outcomes provide a case in point (Darlymple 1986; Ninan and Chandrashekar 1992). The dominant paradigms for technology transfer, development, and use have been around since the early 1980s. A number of volumes treating this issue, directly or indirectly, have been published in the early 1990s, both in the United States and in Western Europe (for instance, see contributions in Edwards et al. 1990 and in Vosti, Reardon, and von Urff 1991). One common theme of the prevailing literature is that sustainable agriculture (and related technological adaptations) requires cooperation between five major players. These are: the public sector, the industrial sector, the farm sector, the small-scale commercial sector, and non-governmental organizations (NGO). This approach was crystallized by Harwood (1996) in a model of successful technology development and use for enhancing agricultural sustainability, which represents the mainstream thinking on the matter. The following roles are allocated to each of the players: