Low external input technology (or LEIT) is an increasingly prominent subject in discussions of sustainable agriculture. There is a growing need for self-sufficient agriculture in an era experiencing dramatically diminishing returns from the high-input form of agriculture that resulted from the so-called 'green revolution', with its strong reliance upon expensive, synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. There are many reasons to support strategies for low external input farming, including a concern for environmental sustainability, increased attention to resource-poor farmers and marginal...

Low external input technology (or LEIT) is an increasingly prominent subject in discussions of sustainable agriculture. There is a growing need for self-sufficient agriculture in an era experiencing dramatically diminishing returns from the high-input form of agriculture that resulted from the so-called 'green revolution', with its strong reliance upon expensive, synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. There are many reasons to support strategies for low external input farming, including a concern for environmental sustainability, increased attention to resource-poor farmers and marginal...

Many of the current controversies over globalization, intellectual property protection, biotechnology and the future of farming are played out in seed provision. This book examines seed management in traditional farming systems, reviews the history of formal plant breeding and the origins of seed trade, and examines the roles of the public and private sectors in the contemporary seed systems of industrialized and developing countries. The book also describes the major types of aid interventions in developing country seed systems and explains why many of these have not been successful. The...