The Importance of Security Crops
Date Posted: February 25th, 2008
In different ways, all of this week’s news stories touched on a question that all farmers face – what amount of available resources should be spent on cash crops versus family food crops? The story about the role of wild fruits and the story about swollen shoot virus in cocoa plants both remind us of the dangers of investing in cash crops alone. At the same time, the story about the use of maize in beer reminds us of the ever changing economics of agriculture that push farmers towards different production priorities.
This script talks about the importance of survival crops – or crops that can provide food in times of hardship, even when farmers are unable to purchase fertilizer or poor climate causes crops to fail.
This script, from Package 73, January 2005, can be found online at:
http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/73-6script_en.asp.
