The social sustainability of farming techniques is related to the ideas of social acceptability and justice. Ignoring these issues risks losing valuable local knowledge and provoking political
unrest.
Inclusiveness: Development cannot be sustainable unless it reduces poverty for the broad masses of people in India. The government must find ways to enable the rural poor to benefit from agricultural development.
Political unrest: Gaps between the "haves" and "have-nots" feed a feeling of social injustice among those who feel neglected and excluded from development opportunities, as well as from better-off
sympathizers. The result is a climate favourable to political opposition and even violence.
Local acceptance: Many new technologies fail because they are based on practices or assumptions from outside.Sustainable agricultural practices usually are based on local social customs, traditions, norms and taboos, so local people are more likely to accept them and adapt them to their own needs.
Indigenous knowledge: Sustainable agricultural practices often rely on traditional knowhow and local innovation.Local people have a wealth of knowledge about their environment, crops and livestock. They keep locally adapted breeds and crop varieties. They have social structures that manage and conserve common resources, help people in need, and maintain the social fabric. Rather than ignoring or replacing this knowledge, sustainable agricultural development seeks to build on it and enrich it with appropriate information from outside.
Gender: In traditional agriculture, women traditionally bear the heaviest burdens in terms of labour. In modern conventional farming, too, men often benefit the most: they control what is grown and how the resulting income is spent. Sustainable agriculture attempts to ensure that the burdens and benefits are shared more equitably between men and women.
Food security: Traditional farming techniques often fail to produce enough food, or enough variety of food for a balanced diet. Conventional modern farming focuses on a few commodities, so people still do not have a balanced diet. Sustainable agriculture improves food security by improving the quality and nutritional value of the food, and by producing a bigger range of produce throughout the year.
Participation: Traditional society in India is riven by wealth and caste distinctions. Introducing conventional farming innovations tends to exacerbate these: the rich and higher-caste tend to benefit,
while the poor and lower-caste are left out.Sustainable agricultural interventions consciously target the less well-off, and empower them so they can organize and speak with their own "voice", so promoting dialogue and democracy.
unrest.
Inclusiveness: Development cannot be sustainable unless it reduces poverty for the broad masses of people in India. The government must find ways to enable the rural poor to benefit from agricultural development.
Political unrest: Gaps between the "haves" and "have-nots" feed a feeling of social injustice among those who feel neglected and excluded from development opportunities, as well as from better-off
sympathizers. The result is a climate favourable to political opposition and even violence.
Local acceptance: Many new technologies fail because they are based on practices or assumptions from outside.Sustainable agricultural practices usually are based on local social customs, traditions, norms and taboos, so local people are more likely to accept them and adapt them to their own needs.
Indigenous knowledge: Sustainable agricultural practices often rely on traditional knowhow and local innovation.Local people have a wealth of knowledge about their environment, crops and livestock. They keep locally adapted breeds and crop varieties. They have social structures that manage and conserve common resources, help people in need, and maintain the social fabric. Rather than ignoring or replacing this knowledge, sustainable agricultural development seeks to build on it and enrich it with appropriate information from outside.
Gender: In traditional agriculture, women traditionally bear the heaviest burdens in terms of labour. In modern conventional farming, too, men often benefit the most: they control what is grown and how the resulting income is spent. Sustainable agriculture attempts to ensure that the burdens and benefits are shared more equitably between men and women.
Food security: Traditional farming techniques often fail to produce enough food, or enough variety of food for a balanced diet. Conventional modern farming focuses on a few commodities, so people still do not have a balanced diet. Sustainable agriculture improves food security by improving the quality and nutritional value of the food, and by producing a bigger range of produce throughout the year.
Participation: Traditional society in India is riven by wealth and caste distinctions. Introducing conventional farming innovations tends to exacerbate these: the rich and higher-caste tend to benefit,
while the poor and lower-caste are left out.Sustainable agricultural interventions consciously target the less well-off, and empower them so they can organize and speak with their own "voice", so promoting dialogue and democracy.
