Addis Abeba — Let me begin with" the last form of Agriculture". What does it signify and is the lesson form it of any use to farming in future? What it says is that, many of the innovations and technologies in crop production that by most measures are deemed successful, may have actually overstepped their boundaries and therefore, may eventually prove counterproductive to agriculture itself.

The New Yorker, May 19, 2008 ran an article titled," The last bite" and in it described, the last form of agriculture with a specific but broadly relevant example: "Shrimp farming{ aqua culture} is so damaging to the environment and so polluting to the soil, trees, and water that it will be the last form of agriculture. After it you can do nothing"

The word sustainability currently is perhaps overused. So much so that in fact, some people have come to justifiably consider it as one of the common clichés we verbalize several times a day; especially in pompous gatherings. But in truth the principle of sustainability remains still valid and relevant to everyday farming.

We see its effects when we come face to face with unsustainable ventures and projects that have tanked because the concept of sustainability was not central to the projects to begin with.

Instances of "last forms of agriculture" abound all over places in our world, differing only in degree or extent of damages incurred. Ethiopia unfortunately has also its share of last forms of agriculture. In Ethiopia, of course, unlike in the developed countries of the West, permanent damages occurred not because of too much technologies or overdoses of chemicals, but because of too little technologies and lack of full awareness of the natural dynamics at work.

To specific let me put down a couple of examples. Several irrigation projects established in the past on the Awash valley have now folded and departed because of the salinity that ensued. Vast swathes of prime farmlands are now too salty for crops.

People at the time obviously failed to try to forestall alkalization by installing the proper measures or by practicing suitable farming practices in a hot climate. These lands could be reclaimed for some limited use, but the hassle and the cost of doing so is certainly prohibitive.

Another dismaying fact in Ethiopia's long march towards food self-sufficiency is that farmlands in some parts of northern Ethiopia in particular, but elsewhere too, have been both overused and misused that they can no longer deliver. People have been resettled to some place else and they have a name now: environmental refugees

IN those lands, the last form of agriculture was reached because of soil erosion by water runoff over the years; may indeed be centuries. This is a case of sustainability give a short shrift. There is no reason why those derelict farmlands now couldn't have been saved by protecting their soils from erosion with simple means.

Lets' now look at the other issue: "the end of food". Just as the world seemed to have been liberated from Malthusian "long night of hunger and drudgery" there comes now, in this darn age of cutting edge science all sorts of financial and other crises that make food scarce for too many people.

Some stark figures may help explain that: 33 countries are facing not only food crises but even civil unrest. So much so that the head of government of Haiti was kicked out unceremoniously. In Egypt, the army had to bake bread for the entire population; otherwise the government could have been kicked in the ass; maybe. Worldwide, in addition to the 800 million people hovering on the verge of starvation, another 100 million people are supposed to have joined the ranks of people on the poverty line in the year 2008-2009 alone.

There is no question that today, demand for food is rising and the supply has been threatened by climate change. But the fact that the supply falling short of demand is one side of the equation because even if the supply increases, the price has gone so high wire that the food supply is hardly reachable by the have-nots. The ear of cheap food is probably over.

So what is the connection between the two issues? I think it is a case of damn if do (grow food recklessly); and damn if you don't (hunger)