多年来，撒哈拉以南非洲 (SSA) 的农业一直相当传统，大量使用合成化学品和化肥来保证生产。这在农耕文化中根深蒂固，以至于它已成为默认的农耕制度，没有它，农耕是完全不可能的。我们生于其中，与之共存，死于其中，而不质疑是否存在其他选择。
就像 18 和 19 世纪土地革命的趋势一样，令人惊讶的是，直到 20 世纪，即使技术和精细农业的发展，传统农业实践也完全没有被遗忘。面对农业面临的众多挑战，农民选择了一种能够以尽可能低的成本保证生产的耕作方式，而不太关心最终消费者的健康和环境。 SSA 的很大一部分农业仍然是小规模的，大多数农民种植是为了维持生计。然而，目前的趋势表明，与 2010 年的 US$313 亿美元相比，到 2030 年预计价值 $1 万亿美元的农业综合企业越来越受关注， 根据世界银行 2013 年的报告.
随着对农业综合企业的兴趣越来越大，农民需要了解新的农业模式，这些模式不仅可以保证生产，而且可以确保这种生产与当地现有的环境条件相协调，从而确保长期的可持续性。从长远来看，只有农民教育在政府或非政府组织的农业生产政策和计划中占据中心位置，才能保证这一点。然而，这也有其自身的局限性。俗话说，老狗新花样难教，要改变一个几乎一生都在传统农业耕作的老农民的心态，是不可能在一夜之间改变的。这解释了撒哈拉以南非洲地区大多数小农采用新技术的速度缓慢的原因。
根据 CGIAR（国际农业研究中心联盟）通过的报告 on new technology adoption by farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, the rate is much slower and has been on a downward trend. This could be due to the fact that majority of these farmers are older and are used to a certain kind of farming practice that they find difficult, if not impossible, to change. This is no surprise since farming among communities in SSA was considered an old person’s job and was associated with the poor and vulnerable. However, with the focus shifting on agribusiness, the younger generation is encouraged to participate in farming because it is associated with higher rates of technological adoption. This generation — armed with the right technology and mindset — are the future of farming in SSA and need to be encouraged to adopt sustainable models that not only guarantees food security, but environmental concerns for the long term.
肯尼亚最近遭受了一种秋粘虫的毁灭性袭击。
因此，迫切需要将模式从更像是舒适区的传统耕作方式转变为一种综合方法，以确保农民即使在天气和气候状况不断变化的情况下也能保证生产气候变化。在这方面，肯尼亚是一个有趣的案例研究。 该国最近遭受了一种秋粘虫的毁灭性袭击，这变得几乎无法控制。农化公司、主要研究机构和政府机构都没有意识到，也没有为农民提供现成的解决方案。此次害虫爆发严重威胁到肯尼亚的粮食安全，直到最近，肯尼亚才从墨西哥进口玉米——该国的主要商品。
The question which was in everyone’s mind is whether this happened overnight since it took everybody by surprise. Up until now, intervention is still wanting and it is indeed interesting to note that certain farmers had opted for physical mechanisms, where they basically put the worm between to stones to crush it. Come to think of it, strange as it may sound in this time and age, this is one of the methods advocated for in IPM (Integrated Pest Management) as a form of physical control of pests. In fact, if every farmer had applied IPM, which basically gives you the opportunity to be ahead of the problem, the first farmers whose farms were attacked had the opportunity to control the pest in situ without further intervention if only they took the matter with the seriousness it advocates.
But since the default system is if you noticed a pest, immediate intervention would be to spray the chemical in stock, which in most cases is a broad-spectrum insecticide, and if that doesn’t work, you increase the rate and reduce the interval, and if it still doesn’t work, you ask the local Agrovet for the strongest concoction they’ve got and spray that too. The problem is likely to spur out of hand. In some cases, if the problem persists and is threatening the overall production system, then the specific farmers or groups of farmers would raise alarm with the government to intervene and such intervention would be in terms of compensation for losses and not to provide solutions to the problem.
What the Kenya farmers didn’t know was that the pest had become resistant to certain molecules. The problem could have arose from the overuse of such molecules to control certain pests, and in some way affected the natural balance thus natural control was lacking. For instance, certain bird species and certain reptiles that feed on the worm could have been killed as collateral in pursuit of controlling a certain pest, for instance the red spider mite. This has been contributed by our farming systems that do not encourage the growth and existence of natural enemies of pests since the environment created becomes unbearable for them or simply put, they do not exist because in some way we might have killed them knowingly or unknowingly.
这个例子指向未来农业综合企业挑战的泥泞水域，即使随着新技术的出现，也无法尽早破译以应用适当的控制。这将威胁到生计，尤其是在撒哈拉以南非洲，那里的大部分经济体都是以农业为基础的。因此，鼓励千禧一代采用新的农业模式，以保护环境和当地支持系统的完整性。我将在后续文章中详细讨论这些模型，包括解决此类场景中预期的关键挑战的可持续方法。