Course title
Theory and Practices of Sustainable Agriculture   [Theory and Practices of Sustainable Agriculture]
Course category   Requirement   Credit 1 
Department   Year 1  Semester 3rd 
Course type 3rd  Course code 01ia1009
Instructor(s)
及川 洋征, 山田 祐彰   [OIKAWA Yosei, YAMADA Masaaki]
Facility affiliation Graduate School of Agriculture Office   Email address

Course description
This course is one of the international agricultural subjects open for all undergraduates and is offered at the same time as the course for AIMS exchange students. As it will be offered every other year (2023, 2025), this year (2022) will not be offered as an AIMS course . Therefore, irregular classes with some modifications will be offered only if any undergraduate students registered this course. The course provides basic concepts, theories and backgrounds of sustainable agriculture (SA) with a special focus on agroforestry systems. Participants study the cases of SA in various countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to share and exchange ideas how to apply the case studies for agricultural development in participants' countries.
Expected Learning
1) To understand the basic concept of sustainable agriculture
2) To deepen insights for promoting sustainable agriculture in home countries.

Corresponding criteria in the Diploma policy:
See the curriculum maps.
https://www.tuat.ac.jp/campuslife_career/campuslife/policy/
Course schedule
The following schedule is provided as a regular AIMS class.
1. Introduction: What is sustainable agriculture? (Background and history)
2. What should we “sustain” in agriculture? (Theories of SA)
3. How sustainable are agricultural systems in your countries?
4. What is agroforestry? (Background, history, and current status)
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of agroforestry? (Theories of AF)
6. How sustainable are agroforestry practices in your countries?
7. How can we develop agroforestry projects? (Group project presentation)
Prerequisites
Participants will make presentations by the last day. Preparation and review of classes should be conducted for standard hours set by the University.
Required Text(s) and Materials
Printed materials will be distributed in the class if necessary.
References
Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition: Proceedings of the FAO International Symposium, 18-19 September 2014, Rome, Italy. FAO, 2015 http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4729e.pdf (7.2MB)
Altieri, MA and Nicholls, CI, Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture. UNEP, 2005
http://www.agroeco.org/doc/agroecology-engl-PNUMA.pdf (1.7MB) Nair, PKR (ed.) An Introduction to Agroforestry. Kluwer, 1993
http://apps.worldagroforestry.org/Units/Library/Books/PDFs/32_An_introduction_to_agroforestry.pdf
(7.6MB)
Assessment/Grading
Positive participation and reaction in the classes (30%), a group presentation and an individual report (70%)
Message from instructor(s)
Participants are expected to prepare answers to the above questions.
Course keywords
Agroforestry, organic farming, appropriate technology, project planning
Office hours
14:00-17:00 (or by e-mail communications)
Remarks 1
Remarks 2
Related URL
Lecture Language
English
Language Subject
Last update
8/22/2022 4:27:02 PM