Book Reviews - Pesticides News No.28

Regenerating agriculture
Regenerating Agriculture is sure to become an instant classic. It will bridge the gap between technical and social perspectives, win over doubters and should encourage greater confidence and investment in more sustainable agricultural systems.
    Jules Pretty does not dismiss out of hand the achievements of modern agriculture or of the green revolution. But points out that the environmental and social costs are rarely recognised, and the benefits of these systems have been poorly distributed. In pursuing the limits of technical possibilities, the scientific community has produced a "generation of technologies for farmers that have been applied widely and irrespective of context."
    The importance of a participatory approach for success is argued and amply illustrated, and the case is made for sustainability in all aspects, technical and financial. Certain technical aspects of modern agriculture are not accounted for in economic assessments: for example increased rice yields have been achieved only with high energy inputs. Excluding fertilisers, in the Philippines a 116% increase in rice yield required a 3000% increase in energy inputs and in India a 6% increase in rice yield required a 266% increase in energy.
    Projects and 'developments' are unlikely to succeed in the long term if they involve payments to farmers as a substitute for building on local skills, interests and capacity. If local people have no stake in maintaining practices or structures, the work stops with the incentives. Success needs a combination of resource-conserving technologies, enabling external institutions, and local institutions and groups. Farmers do not get more output from less inputs, but must substitute knowledge, labour and management skills.
    One of the book's greatest strengths lies in the wealth of examples-including case studies from 20 communities- demonstrating successful sustainable agriculture. But governments must lend a supportive policy environment. The book provides them 25 sound policies.
    International agencies (the World Bank, FAO) have adopted the language of sustainability, but still focus on 'high potential areas', ignoring the majority of poor communities and farmers living in more marginal regions. Their land may be further degraded through bad practices and pressure on land, the best-and most equitable-result will be won by ensuring that their efforts to conserve and regenerate are supported and supplemented. The planners and decision makers in these institutions should read Regenerating Agriculture.

Jules N. Pretty, Regenerating Agriculture-Policies and practice for sustainability and self-reliance, Earthscan, London, 1995, 320pp.

Another view on sustainability
Sustainable Agricultural Systems comprises papers presented at an eponymous conference held by the Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina State Universities in September 1988. Published in 1990, it has recently become available through Earthscan. The 40 papers are grouped to provide an overview of sustainable agriculture, components of sustainable agricultural systems, the importance of integration in sustainable farming systems, sustainable agricultural systems in the tropics, policy development for the low-input sustainable agriculture programme and improved ecological impacts.
    In contrast to Regenerating Agriculture, the papers in this collection barely mention participation, local initiative building on farmers' knowledge. It is heavily oriented to technology and shows how far the politics of sustainability have moved in seven years.
    Nevertheless, the collection is a valuable resource, providing sound technical analyses. Most authors address with passion the need for sustainable agricultural systems to counter desertification, deforestation, and the accumulation of chemicals in soils and waters. It pleads for a longer term perspective on the environment. The fact that progress is slow, and agrochemical use is still increasing, perhaps indicates that the hosts should hold another conference to assess progress in September 1998.

Clive A. Edwards, Rattan Lal, Patrick Madden, Robert H. Miller and Gar House (Eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Street, Lucie Press, Florida, US, 1990, available through Earthscan in the UK, 696pp.

Making the precautionary principle work
The precautionary principle, which asserts that interested parties, both public and private, should act to prevent harm, has been accepted by governments, institutions and certain industries. Its aim is to shift the burden of proof to those who propose to alter the status quo-not an easy demand. The principle is now regarded as being of fundamental importance in guiding investments and development into sustainable avenues, and preventing environmental destruction when the consequences of a potential act or decision are not thoroughly understood.
    Nevertheless, while widely quoted as justification for preventing developments with unknown consequences, the lack of hard data and strong precedent means the concept is rarely applied in the final analysis. This book will redress the balance.
    The contributors offer wide-ranging views on its effectiveness and application, covering the implications for science, for management and the international dimension and offering practical guidelines. The book is bound to become a work of reference, important for activists, regulators and decision makers.

Timothy O'Riordan and James Cameron (Eds), Interpreting the Precautionary Principle, Earthscan, London, 1994, £15.99, 314pp.

Pesticides and donor policies-three case studies
In the past, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies have encouraged the use of pesticides in agricultural development.  While there has not been a complete reversal of policies, most agencies now advocate IPM, although there is still a gap between policy and practice.  In relation to Africa, a European donor agencies have strong reservations about the ability to transfer IPM technology. 
    A most useful series of five reports prepared for the US Agency for International Development provide an important analysis of donor policies and their impact, and of trends in agrochemical use in Africa.  Three separate studies provide detailed case studies on Cameroon, Kenya and Tanzania.  The analyses assume that agrochemical use will be part of the country strategy of increasing food and cash crop production, and recommendations veer towards strengthening capacity to manage pesticides-particularly through regional collaboration, better data gathering and training.  They also advocate an end to all forms of pesticide subsidies and research into IPM.
    An earlier report assesses the agrochemical industry in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Bilateral Donor Agencies and the Environment:  pest and pesticide management, Richard Tobin, December 1994, 124pp.

• Environmental Implications of Agricultural Trade and Policy Reform Programs in Cameroon: pest and pesticide management, Patricia Matteson and Martin Meltzer, December 1994, 42pp.

• Environmental and Economic Implications of Agricultural Trade and Promotion Policies in Kenya: pest and pesticide management, Patricia Matteson and Martin Meltzer, April 1995, 90pp.

• Environmental and Economic Implications of Agricultural Trade and Promotion Policies in Uganda: pest and pesticide management, Martin Meltzer, Patricia Matteson and Walter Knausenberger, December 1994, 103pp.

• Pesticides and the Agrichemical Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, July 1994, 117pp.

Five reports prepared for the US Agency for International Development, Bureau for Africa, by Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Training Project, Winrock International, Virginia, US.

Pesticide impact in Latin America
Since World War II, the Green Revolution has boosted agricultural production in Latin America and other parts of the Third World, with money, technical assistance, and other  aid from US development agencies. But the Green Revolution came at a price-massive pesticide dependence that has caused serious socio-economic and public health problems and widespread environmental damage.
    In this study Douglas Murray draws on ten years of field research of international development strategies, pesticide problems, and agrarian change in Latin America. It is interdisciplinary, addressing issues from the perspectives of sociology, ecology, economics, political science and public health. The book provides an important voice on opportunities for and obstacles to more lasting and sustainable development in the Third World.

Douglas Murray, Cultivating Crisis: The Human Cost of Pesticides in Latin America, University of Texas Press, PO Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819, US, 1995, $17.95, 208pp.

Do pesticides get on your nerves?
This is a new edition of a work first published ten years ago. It opens with the plea to doctors and investigators to continue looking for symptoms following acute exposures well past the point of apparent recovery, as many exposures cause subtle or overt damage to the nervous system.
    The book was prompted by one of the authors who had treated a patient for exposure to a substantial quantity of OP insecticide. 'Toxicity' continued long after on the basis of the recovery of cholinesterase levels. For several months the patient suffered fatigue and muscular weakness. The doctors found similar after-effects of poisonings were unobserved, overlooked, or dismissed as having no relationship to the poisoning.
    The work reviews literature focusing mainly on insecticides. There are substantial chapters on chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides, organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids. There are also briefer reviews of fungicides and herbicides. Although a short introduction is provided, the book could do with conclusions for each of the chapters: the case material and papers cited are voluminous, but would be better served with the addition of comparisons and judgements to guide readers and researchers. UK readers (this is a US publication) will note that there is no mention of sheep dips.

 D.J. Ecobichon and  R.M. Joy, Pesticides and Neurological Diseases (Second edition), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida US, 1994. ISBN 0 8493 4361 5, £114.50, 381pp.

Pesticides and soil invertebrates
The Danish National Environmental Research Institute has investigated the sub-lethal effects of pesticides on invertebrates such as protozoa, enchytraeidae, collembola, predaceous mites and on microbial respiration. A semi-field test system has been developed involving collembola and predacious mites. The OP insecticide dimethoate was found to cause significant reduction of collembola populations in the laboratory and semi-field. Pirimicarb (insecticide) and fenpropimorph (fungicide) showed effects at single sampling dates in the semi-field but not in lab tests.

Effects of Pesticides on Meso-and Microfauna in Soil, Danish Environmental Protection Agency, 1995. Strangade 29, 1401 Copenhagen K, DKK 145, 185pp.

New insecticides
This book from the Royal Society of Chemistry discusses new types of synthetic insecticides (since 1990) and their biological activity, as well as the synthesis of biologically active natural products. It covers pheromones, antifeedants and proteinase inhibitors and kariomones, produced by plants. According to researchers at Wagengingen Agricultural University in the Netherlands, applying behaviour modifying chemicals for crop protection is hampered by legislative problems. Despite not wanting to be seen as 'nature freaks' they do not consider a volatile pheromone should require as much supporting toxicological and environmental data as novel fully synthetic pesticides. 

Advances in the chemistry of insect control III, Edited by GG Brigs, Royal Society of Chemistry, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 4WF, UK, 1994, £47.50, 250pp.

Glyphosate profile
The World Health Organisation has produced an evaluation of the health and environmental effects of the herbicide glyphosate. Generally the WHO says that  glyphosate, one of the world's most commonly used herbicides, has a good health and environmental profile. Despite this, data on the occurrence of glyphosate in the environment are very scarce and measurements of daily human intake via food and water are not known. There is also little data on occupational exposure.

Glyphosate, Environmental Health Criteria, No. 159, WHO 1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland, 1994, US$24.30, 177pp.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 28, June 1995, pages 30-31]