Very interesting read on Developing Country Food Production

[MentalSquint]

I apologize if this link has been posted before. http://www.fao.org/Ag/AGAInfo/themes...nts/ibys/1.htm

[Bidadisndat]

Thanks for that, MS. I'd not seen it before, but it makes good reading and I've copied the link.
One particular item caught my interest:

An interesting example is offered by an Eastern European country that was unable, in the late 1970s, to produce rabbits in competition with the Western industrialised world. On the big state farms, each keeping two to five thousand does, productivity was only a little more than half that of the private Western farms. The latter kept, at that time, generally no more than five hundred does.

Then, in the East European country, the idea was developed of providing a stock of about ten does and one buck to each rural family up to a total of three hundred thousand families. In this way they obtained over three millions does, this number greatly exceeding anything possible in an industrial unit and even the total number of animals on national industrial farms. The no-cost rural production system was placed in competition with the advanced Western industry. The rabbits were brought to predetermined collection points and sold at relatively low prices on the Western market. This strategy gave a small but constant income to rural families and it provided the country with excellent gains in hard currency through export. But it caused a lot of trouble to the Western rabbit industry until the Eastern state economy collapsed. The collecting system in the rural area ended too, and no private enterprise was able to recover it.

Luckily for industrial production, rural production is dispersed, economically feeble and not organised. As the example shows, when it is well organised, it can manifest its tremendous power.

A well organised chain of small AP systems could similarly be of tremendous benefit to their individual operators and to the community as a whole.
(Multinational agribusiness probably wouldn't be too thrilled with the concept though. )
......Bid...

[blub blub]

Good stuff, is a pity that parts of the report are not online.
I worked for the FAO around 20 years ago doing integrated aquaculture. I could tell you already at that time that the introduction of foreign production systems /methods don't work to well, seen it, been there... Took a while before the guys in Rome (FAO) who take the decisions paid attention.

Anyway we have similar situations in this country with indigenous people.