ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS

Abstract

It is of course possible to write books about the topic given to me as there are no unique systems. The chosen system will depend on the soil quality, rainfall and rainfall distribution and possibly even more important the culture and socioeconomic conditions of the people living there. It is very tempting sometime for Western Scientists to dream up solutions based on their experience and set up projects which would take them in the direction of what they consider normal. Such projects often do more harm than good and will generally stop whenever the project funding is stopped which is what could be expected. Had a proper understanding been sought before the project was set up and started some very useful results could have materialized.

In the following I will address some points related to sustainable agriculture in the tropics bearing in mind that there is no one solution so the discussion will mainly
relate to principles considering also that most of my experience relate to small farmers.