When researchers compared the various pest management systems used 1997-2000 in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, they found that farmers using integrated pest management (IPM) techniques had reduced their use of pesticides by 65%, whilst non-IPM farmers had increased their usage by 40%. Furthermore, IPM farmers on combined rice/fish farms used less than IPM farmers growing only rice. They also found that IPM farmers were more aware of the dangers of pesticides and of environmental issues.

The researchers concluded that IPM rice/fish farming was a sustainable alternative to non-IPM monoculture rice cropping.

Sustainable agriculture practices are outperforming chemical fertiliser and pesticide-based farming worldwide:

• In Bangladesh 8000 farming families used integrated pest management to increase rice yields by 12% whilst cutting pesticides use to zero.

• In Brazil a community-based integrated management programme with farmers growing 60 species of green manures and cover crops doubled yields whilst reducing the use of fertilizers and the need for weeding and ploughing.

• In Germany the Government's MEKA scheme (a grant scheme for regenerating agriculture) encouraged 55,400 farmers to cut pesticide and fertiliser usage, extensify grassland systems, increase the use of cover crops and legumes, protect rare breeds and increase 'undersowing'.

• In Guatemala and Honduras 8000 farming families used integrated pest management and farmer field schools to reduce pesticide use whilst maintaining rice yields. 25% of the farmers eliminated pesticide use altogether.

• In East and Southern Africa 250,000 farming families benefited from community-based sustainable agriculture projects to double average yields without chemicals

• In the US 40,000 farms using sustainable agriculture technologies grow twice as many crops per acre as conventional farms, use 60-70% less pesticides and energy without reducing yields, and spend more on local goods and services

When Cuba relied on the USSR to survive the trade embargo placed on it by the US, it imported 100% of its wheat, 90% of its beans and 50% of its rice. To 'help' domestic agriculture it also imported 1.3 million tons of chemical fertilisers every year, as well as 17,000 tons of herbicides and 10,000 tons of pesticides. All that disappeared with the collapse of the USSR in 1989 and Cuba had to look to its own resources.

The Government's solution was to make organic agriculture official policy, and not just for farmers. Hospitals, schools and factories were pressed into achieving food self-sufficiency by creating organic market gardens, and even individual streets were 'encouraged' to set up raised beds. By 1998 there were 8,000 urban farms and community gardens run by 30,000 people. Cuba has shown that a country can feed its own people (in this case, 11 million people), without expensive chemical inputs, and has shown that small-scale production can be as effective - actually more effective - as large-scale chemical farming.