Notice of a new book about agriculture from a southern perspective…

Permaculture Strategy for the South African Villages uses permaculture ideas to recommend practical approaches that can be used by government planners, extension workers and aid organizations alike.

Written in accessible language and with a clear structure of chapters, the book explains a set of tactical approaches to environmental sustainability in regard to land care, local agriculture and food security in the South African villages. The tone throughout is optimistic and upbeat. People and their meaningful interaction with land is the starting point for strategies and planning principles that address sustainable food and fuel production in villages, to enhance the quality of life for the rural poor. Permaculture design principles inform the tactical approach offered in the book that works at both policy and practice levels.

Permaculture aims at the harmonious integration of landscape and people viewed as a single, if complex, system. Looking at the villages and South Africa as a whole, the book tailors tactics to the social context and offers a critique of the thinking behind existing agricultural development planning and implementation for South African villages. This approach has a wider applicability to many developing countries because it serves as a manual of practical action which can be readily adapted to local contexts.

Permaculture Strategy for the South African Villages argues that development work must always be related to the local context of people and their land – and shows how this can be done.

Now available from the author

• $30 student price
• $40 for people with a real income

Email to arrange copies: Terry.Leahy@newcastle.edu.au

Check out Book Cover, List of Contents and Chapter Two here