Cultural Agriculture Education: Panacea for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Although localized climate change is the origin of agriculture in the ‘Levant,’ the fact that farming was ‘invented’ elsewhere such as Northern and Southern China, Africa Sahel, New Guinea and several regions of Americas suggests that culture and social reasons may have been instrumental. Therefore agriculture cannot be separated from culture defined as the way of life of a people. In the past century, agriculture has been characterized by enhanced productivity, the replacement of human labour with mechanization, use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Though these intensive farming practices generally lead to increased outputs, they have also led to the destruction of farmlands and cultures. As global population increases, agriculture continues to replace natural ecosystems with monoculture crops. Since the 1970s, western farmers and consumers have become increasingly aware of, and in some cases critical of widely used intensive agriculture practices. However, it is in most areas of Africa that cultural agriculture such as, the use of human labour, partial or no mechanization, little or no fertilizer and pesticides is still practiced thus supporting global advocates for sustainable agriculture. This paper examines the context of cultural agriculture and argues that it is the panacea to sustainable agriculture and global food security and advocates cultural responsive curriculum and pedagogy practices in Agriculture education.