GRAIN
Small farmers worldwide have vast experience, but much of their valuable knowledge is often not shared beyond their own community. This is a pity because there is much to be learnt from them. Exchanging such experiences can help other farmers to improve productivity and generate income in an ecologically sound way.
LEISA Magazine finds and publishes such experiences. In this way, a success story from Bolivia can inspire farmers in, for example, Bhutan. LEISA Magazine is one of the rare publications that bring together the practical experiences of those working on sustainable agriculture around the world.
LEISA Magazine has subscribers in 163 countries. The magazine is read by agriculture/development fieldworkers, researchers, teachers, policymakers and entrepreneurs.
A global network
LEISA Magazine has a global edition and six regional editions (see below). They all provide their readers with accounts of practical experiences on sustainable small-holder farming, and offer debate, background information to the news, and information on books and websites. All the editions together have a readership of about a quarter of a million people.
The regional editions are published by the LEISA Network, a global partnership of organisations committed to the cause of small-scale farm families. These farmers have been sidelined by “modern” agricultural development. However, small-scale farming continues to be a crucial source of livelihood and food security for an estimated 600 million families. It harbours and nurtures biodiversity, it safeguards the resilience of agro-ecological systems against natural and human-made disasters, and it serves as custodian of cultural traditions.
Birthday
Next year, the magazine celebrates its 25th birthday. The whole year will be devoted to the theme of family farming; every issue will focus on a sub-theme within this. More information on the jubilee will appear in the December issue of LEISA Magazine, which focuses on climate change.
The next regular issue of the LEISA Magazine, due out in September, will be on social inclusion and is entitled “Respect through farming”. Previous issues of LEISA Magazine include: “Living Soils”, “Ecological pest management”, “Healthier farmers, better products”, “Securing seed supply” and “How farmers organise”.
LEISA Magazine is published quarterly by ILEIA (the Centre for Research and Information on Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture). The six regional editions of the magazine, published by partner organisations are: LEISA Revista de Agroecología (in Spanish, for South America), SALAM (in Bahasa Indonesia), AGRIDAPE (in French, for West-Africa), LEISA India (in English), LEISA China and Agriculturas (in Portuguese, for Brazil). All editions are freely available on the network’s website (www.leisa.info).
To subscribe to LEISA Magazine, send an email to [email protected] or write to: PO Box 2067, 3800 CB Amersfoort, the Netherlands. Or visit www.leisa.info for more information on subscriptions.