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Evaluating the Potential Contribution of Organic Agriculture to Sustainability Goals

FAO's technical contribution to IFOAM's Scientific Conference - Mar del Plata, Argentina, 16-19 November 1998

Year of publication 1998

Author Climate, Energy and Tenure Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The question considered in this paper is how to evaluate the feasibility of organic agriculture and its impact on farm sustainability, and hence its role in food security. FAO (1996a) defines food security as "...a situation in which all households have both physical and economic access to adequate food for all members, and where households are not at risk of losing such access". There are three dimensions implicit in this definition: availability, stability and access. Adequate food availabilit y means that, on average, sufficient food supplies should be available to meet consumption needs. Stability refers to minimizing the probability that, in difficult years or seasons, food consumption might fall below consumption requirements. Access draws attention to the fact that, even with bountiful supplies, many people still go hungry because they do not have the resources to produce or purchase the food they need. In addition, if food needs are met through exploitation of non-renewable natu ral resources or degradation of the environment, there is no guarantee of food security in the long term.

Language English

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