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Introduction:

Books in English and Portuguese:

	&ldquo;Full Planet Empty Plates&rdquo;, by Lester Brown (or in Portuguese the book "Plano B 4.0" &ndash; same content but some years earlier)

	With food scarcity driven by falling water tables, eroding soils, and rising temperatures, control of arable land and water resources is moving to center stage in the global struggle for food security. &ldquo;In this era of tightening world food supplies, the ability to grow food is fast becoming a new form of geopolitical leverage. Food is the new oil&rdquo;.

	What will the geopolitics of food look like in a new era dominated by scarcity and food nationalism? Brown outlines the political implications of land acquisitions by grain-importing countries in Africa and elsewhere as well as the world&rsquo;s shrinking buffers against poor harvests. With wisdom accumulated over decades of tracking agricultural issues, Brown exposes the increasingly volatile food situation the world is facing.

	Books only in English:

	&ldquo;Out of Poverty&rdquo;, by Paul Polak

	Based on his 25 years of experience, Polak explodes what he calls the "Three Great Poverty Eradication Myths": that we can donate people out of poverty, that national economic growth will end poverty, and that Big Business, operating as it does now, will end poverty. Polak shows that programs based on these ideas have utterly failed--in fact, in sub-Saharan Africa poverty rates have actually gone up.

	These failed top-down efforts contrast sharply with the grassroots approach Polak and IDE have championed: helping the dollar-a-day poor earn more money through their own efforts. Amazingly enough, unexploited market opportunities do exist for the desperately poor. Polak describes how he and others have identified these opportunities and have developed innovative, low-cost tools that have helped in lifting 17 million people out of poverty.

	&ldquo;Feeding people is easy&rdquo;, by Colin Tudge

	The message is the most important that can be conceived. At the moment 38 million people across Africa are at risk of starvation, yet with a major change in our thinking, the world can be fed forever-without cruelty to livestock and without wrecking the planet. If we do the job properly, we will create human societies that are truly agreeable, cooperative, and at peace-societies in which all manner of people with all kinds of beliefs and aspirations can be personally fulfilled.

	&ldquo;The Market Gardener &ndash; A Successful Grower&#39;s Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming&rdquo;, by Jean-Martin Fortier

	Growing on their farm of just 1.5 acres, the authors feed more than two hundred families through their seasonal market stands. The secret of their success is the low-tech, high-yield production methods they&rsquo;ve developed by focusing on growing better rather than growing bigger, making their operation more lucrative and viable in the process.

	This is a compendium of their proven horticultural techniques and innovative growing methods, including:
<ul>
	<li>
		Setting-up a micro-farm by designing biologically intensive cropping systems, all with negligible capital outlay</li>
	<li>
		Farming without a tractor and minimizing fossil fuel inputs through the use of the best hand tools, appropriate machinery, and minimum tillage practices</li>
	<li>
		Growing mixed vegetables systematically with attention to weed and pest management, crop yields, harvest periods, and pricing approaches</li>
</ul>

	"People&#39;s Farming Workbook", Practical Action

	Written for the millions of Southern Africa&#39;s small farmers who help themselves by growing their own vegetables or keeping their own chickens and a few goats.

	This book is easy to read and easy to use, with hundreds of helpful illustrations. It includes interviews with small farmers from all over Southern Africa, as well as a chapter on sustainable agriculture - on keeping the land healthy and fertile so that it can go on producing for the generations to come.

	Books only in Portuguese:

	Manual de Agricultura de Conserva&ccedil;&atilde;o - Sofala, Jos&eacute; Taimo ...

	This manual describes the advantages of the agricultural system, conservation farming, and the details of how to practice it at the level of farming with hand tools to machines.

	Additionally the manual describes how to cultivate the main crops of Mozambique using this system, as well as how to fight pests and diseases.

Directive:

<ol>
	<li>
		Choose one of the following books to read:</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a.&ldquo;Out of Poverty&rdquo;, by Paul Polak 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; b.&ldquo;Feeding people is easy&rdquo;, by Colin Tudge
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
	&nbsp; c.&ldquo;The Market Gardener &ndash; A Successful Grower&#39;s Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming&rdquo;, by Jean-Martin Fortier.</div>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; d.&ldquo;Full Planet Empty Plates / Plano B 4.0&rdquo;, by Lester Brown. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; e.Manual de Agricultura de Conserva&ccedil;&atilde;o - Sofala. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; f."People&#39;s Farming Workbook", Practical Action. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; g."How to Feed the World in 2050". FAO. 
(When you have decided which book to read you can ask your tutor for the book) 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2. Write a few pages on the most important things you learned by reading the book, and how you can use these in your productive unit.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3. Send your written pages to your tutor.

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