Agricultural History Review, Volume 56 Part 2 (2008), p. 262

Given the great age and variety of world agricultures, and their continuing evolution and involvement of a large fraction of mankind, the writing of a comprehensive history of agriculture is a daunting venture. Marcel Mazoyer and Laurence Roudat, in this substantial book, with its strongly philosophical approach, make an unusual contribution to this important subject. Their particular concern is for the very large number of impoverished farmers and their families in many developing countries in recent years.

The authors begin with the evolution of agriculture and its ‘hominization’ and other characteristics not altogether clear to me but leading to a chapter on the ‘Neolithic Agricultural Revolution’. This makes only passing mention of V.Gordon Childe (whose name is mis-spelt in the notes) but who proposed both the concept and the term. The agricultural advances made during the Neolithic Revolution probably entailed linguistic and other developments along with them, as Bellwood suggested in 1994. The extension of Neolithic agriculture into many regions of the world, and its further diversification are then considered, with the curious comment (p.92) that ‘the origin of domestic plants and animals has long been part of those mysterious phenomena surpassing human understanding’.

Then come 40 pages on slash-and-burn agriculture in diverse forest environments, which the authors refer to as ‘post-forest agrarian systems’, going back to the Neolithic epoch but still quite widely practised. Problems with shortening of the reforestation cycle, the reduction of soil fertility, erosion and climate change are considered, among others.

Many aspects of irrigation are then examined in a chapter focussed on ‘The evolution of hydraulic agrarian systems in the Nile Valley’. Here again the authors rely heavily on their own observations and first-hand experience to give a comprehensive account of procedures and problems, culminating in the building of the Aswan high dam, the impact of which was then limited by almost a decade of weak floods. Next comes a similarly long and very sparsely referenced chapter on the Inca agrarian system as ‘an archetype of mountain system(s)’, ‘practically destroyed by colonization’. A chapter on agrarian systems based on fallowing and animal-drawn cultivation with the ard in temperate regions, referred to as the ‘Agricultural Revolution in Antiquity’, follows with digressions into agrarian reform and a very limited and rather unsatisfactory section on crop yields, on which much has been published. Chapter seven deals with the ‘Agricultural Revolution of the Middle Ages in north western Europe’, i.e. with agrarian systems in cold temperate regions based on fallowing and animal power, whose evolution and improvement is described.

Agrarian systems without fallowing in the temperate regions, subtitled ‘The First Agricultural Revolution of Modern Times’, are then covered in chapter eight, as distinct from the preceding Neolithic, Ancient and Medieval revolutions described in earlier chapters. Then come chapters on mechanization and ‘the first world crisis of agricultural overproduction’ and another on the ‘modern revolution’ involving ‘motorization, mechanization, synthetic fertilizers, seed selection and specialization’.

I have listed these developments and ‘revolutions’ in the agricultures of the world because, although together these chapters constitute about three-quarters of the book, they are all light on citations, reflecting rather the interpretations and experience of the authors. Much wisdom and history is enshrined here, but also ample scope for debate. The final chapter discusses the origins and expansion of the agrarian crisis in developing countries, focussing particularly on how the lot of the poorest peasants can, indeed must, be improved.

The book ends with a brief but eloquent conclusion from which I quote:

Today’s world agricultural and food economy is less disorganized and chaotic than the price jolts, surpluses, shortages, famines and hostile international trade negotiations lead one to believe … But insofar as agriculture generally forms the blind spot in analyses of the crisis we have tried to share what our personal origins and our professions allow us to understand better – to wit that it is not possible to explain the contemporary world crisis without taking into account the immense and contradictory transformations that drive today’s agricultures. This is a history with a mission and there are many

facets which it omits, such as the role that scientific research, both national and international, has played in the recent changes in agriculture. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is barely mentioned, and none of its Centres, not even for their contributions to raising the yields of wheat, rice and many other staple crops. There is no consolidated list of references, but a numbered list of notes allows some citations to be traced, if not very satisfactorily.

I have not read the original French edition of this book but the translation by James Membrez for Earthscan appears to retain the spirit of the original, although he admits to having modified the text in several places.