FOREWORD

Sustainable farming systems in upland areas are one of the greatest challenges facing Asian agriculture, since a balance is sought between economic development and environmental protection in those areas. Uplands are particularly sensitive to agricultural encroachments. Driven by growing food demand to feed increasing populations and low farm income in many Asian uplands, however, there is a tendency to use more productive, intensive farming methods in place of traditional subsistence farming characterized by poor crop yields and low farm productivity. Intensive farming methods suitable for lowlands can be disastrous when used on uplands without proven technologies and experience, promoting deforestation and soil erosion and reducing land productivity.

The problem of sustainable upland agriculture is not a technical one as such but it is more institutional, involving limited R&D investment in upland farming research, sociopolitical neglect of marginalized upland societies, low capacity of communities, and inappropriate development planning. In recent years, there have been some successful examples of sustainable upland farming which need to be shared among member countries.

The APO, cognizant of the importance of resource-based conservation in upland areas in the region, organized this meeting to review recent developments in upland farming in member countries, as well as to review the issues and constraints in promoting sustainable upland farming systems further. The study meeting was organized by the APO and hosted by India in January 2001. This volume contains the proceedings of the meeting. We hope that it will prove useful to all those interested in upland farming systems and sustainability relationships.

I wish to express my appreciation to the Government of the India for hosting the study meeting, and to the National Productivity Council and Ministry of Agriculture for implementing the program. Special thanks are due to the resource speakers for sharing their time and expertise with the participants and to Dr. Tej Partap for editing this publication.

– TAKASHI TAJIMA, APO Secretary-General, Tokyo, July 2004