back to main Baha'i Journal of the United Kingdom archive |
ARTICLE
AGRICULTURE - a fundamental principle
Problem:
The agricultural system in the world is not satisfactory
Solution:
In the globalized world we need to establish a decentralised system based first
on individual and family; local and national self-reliance paired with a
sophisticated interdependence at global, national, and local levels.
Proper
agricultural development is a
fundamental principle conducive to the advancement of mankind and to the
reconstruction of the world. The
fundamental basis of the community is agriculture and the agricultural class
exceed other classes in the importance of its service.
There
are at least three reasons for the emphasis on agriculture as the foundation
for social order. The first is to ensure that all have a diet sufficient to
nourish full physical and mental well-being. Second, everyone, not only the
producer, has a high economic stake in the success of the agricultural system.
Although in the industrial nations, as few as two percent of populations are
engaged in farming, as many as twenty five percent work in the food and
agricultural system in production and distribution of farm inputs and
machinery, marketing, transportation, food sales and handling, advertising,
finance, and so on. In Third World countries, most people are directly employed
in farm work. Third, food has a tremendous cultural significance. Our most
basic human relationships - mother to baby, parent to child, gatherings of
family and friends, national, religious, or ethnic feasts and festivals -
involve nuturing through food. Conversely, because of the need to eat we can
all understand and empathise with hunger.
Food and agriculture, then, have a profound symbolic power that can be a
unifying force.
In
the globalised world we need to establish a decentralised system based first on
individual and family; local and national self-reliance paired with a
sophisticated interdependence on the global, national, and local levels. A system that manages the resources for the
benefit of whole communities rather than a struggle to capture wealth for individuals,
ruling class or a state monopoly. Village reconstruction will involve the
establishment of a central community institution, termed the "General
Storehouse" directed by a democratically elected council of trustees
responsible for the allocation of resources and services. The Storehouse
combines functions of economic regulation, lending and social service. Its
first responsibility will be to stabilize farm economy. It will guarantee a
minimum income for the farmers under any harvest condition. The excess of funds
will be channelled upward to the national treasury, presumably to be allocated
likewise within the community of communities.
While
rudimentary, this scheme establishes principles needed in agricultural and
community development: social responsibility for ensured productivity; democratic
control and regulation of community resources, especially credit; community
support for individual or collective
initiatives. It provides a means of
social regulation or trusteeship without imposition on entrepreneurship while
enshrining the principle of community self-reliance at the foundation of mass
economics.
The
threefold relationship of humans to nature gives our work on the land a quality
of worship. It demands a new approach to agriculture, which is the main meeting
point of humanity and nature. The idea of agriculture as a form of worship is
implied in the word agri-culture. Agriculture means literally the cultivation
of fields, but behind the word culture is the latin cultus and the Sanscrit
kwel, which means to dwell, to care, and to worship. From the word agriculture,
we are led to a deeply religious concept, embedded in language, which has to do
with agriculture implying dwelling on the land and caring for it as an act of
worship. The understanding that our work is worship carries with it the
responsibility of finding an appropriately caring quality in our endeavours.
Our work-worship becomes the more worthy to the extent that we assume our
responsibility to the land and to each other by implementing sound husbandry in
a just and sustainable food system.
The
task of building a new social and economic order is associated with the
redesign of agriculture to ensure economic viability for producers in
self-reliant communities, which are vital cells in a global organism founded on
cooperative interdependence. We are to bring a spiritual sense to our
agricultural work, to elevate it to a form of worship, and in the process to
transform our inner lives in correspondence to God's Will revealed in nature
and Word. We are to conduct our lives individually and collectively in such
fashion as to ensure a sustainable society by balancing technical and spiritual
development. We are to have a vision of our relatedness to the earth and are
called to an inspired station where we find ourselves empowered to take full
responsibility in carrying forward an ever-advancing civilization.
Paul
Haney
This
partial summary, extracted by Farhang Sefidvash from the article with the same title
was published in the Journal of Bahá'í Studies, vol 3, no 1, 1991. This article
was taken from the e-mail publishing service of the Research Centre for Global
Governance - a global "Think Tank". Membership represents 92
countries.
You
may subscribe and take part by sending an e-mail message to: mailto:rcgg@orion.ufrgs.br
Baha'i
Prayers available from Warwick A small (A6 size) single fold leaflet containing
9 short Bahá'í prayers on various topics. Ideal for giving to enquirers or
placing on stalls 50 for £2.50 +p&p. From Warwick Bookshop, e-mail: mailto:vickers@netcomuk.co.uk