INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND FOOD SECURITY

LandCare for Development

Cathy Reade

Ms Reade is Coordinator, Public Awareness for the Crawford Fund

LandCare is a great example of how an Australian community model can move abroad to benefit developing countries by improving their land condition and food production. It is currently proving its adaptability and effectiveness for environmental and social outcomes in some developing countries. The story of how Australian LandCare approaches were exported and adopted in developing countries also provides a good example of the collaborative and community based practical side of international agricultural research.

• Landcare in the Philippines started in 1996, after The World Agroforestry Center in Kenya (which had some switched-on Australian personnel) decided to plant a Landcare-like ‘seed’ in the Philippines. About 25 farmers came together to spread the techniques of conservation farming, and this led to a much larger project in mid-1999, funded by ACIAR. An Australian Landcare group in Maleny, Queensland has been both collaborator and mentor in the project. Now around 400 groups are in operation at three sites, with over 4200 households involved.
• Landcare in South Africa was inspired by its Minister of Agriculture and is one of the most progressive Landcare movements on the African continent. Australia has helped facilitate its evolvement. South Africa now has around 20 million people involved in Landcare—that's nearly 50 per cent of the population—and it is showing the way to improve land condition and lift food production.
• Now there are hopes for a fledgling Landcare in East Timor, where many families are forced to clear timber for money and firewood-leading to erosion that in turn degrades already poor farming country, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

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