Exploring options for sustainable intensification through legume integration in different farm types in Eastern Zambia

Abstract

Sustainable intensification has recently been developed and adopted as a key concept and driver for research and policy in sustainable agriculture. It includes ecological, economic and social dimensions, where food and nutrition security, gender and equity are crucial components. This book describes different aspects of systems research in agriculture in its broadest sense, where the focus is moved from farming systems to livelihoods systems and institutional innovation.Much of the work represents outputs of the three CGIAR Research Programs on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics, Aquatic Agricultural Systems and Dryland Systems. The chapters are based around four themes: the conceptual underpinnings of systems research; sustainable intensification in practice; integrating nutrition, gender and equity in research for improved livelihoods; and systems and institutional innovation.While most of the case studies are from countries and agro-ecological zones in Africa, there are also some from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Reducing agro-environmental trade-offs through sustainable livestock intensification across smallholder systems in Northern Tanzania

“…These four case study farms were simulated with FarmDESIGN, a bio-economic farm model that calculates the impacts of various farm configurations on a large set of agro-environmental and socio-economic performance indicators. Applications of FarmDESIGN in the Netherlands (Mandryk, Reidsma, Kanellopoulos, Groot, & van Ittersum, 2014), Zambia (Timler, Michalscheck, Alvarez, Descheemaeker, & Groot, 2017), and Mexico (Cortez-Arriola et al, 2014, 2016Flores-Sanchez et al, 2011) have suggested the model is robust enough to accommodate contrasting farming systems and agro-ecologies. FarmDESIGN has been evaluated in terms of design-, output-and end-user validity.…”

Diversifying the Utilization of Maize at Household Level in Zambia: Quality and Consumer Preferences of Maize-Based Snacks

“…It is the main staple, providing 52% of the local population’s daily calorie intake [ 2 ]. Maize is regarded as an economic and political crop in Zambia due to enabling maize production across the country [ 3 ]. Approximately 80% of Zambian smallholder households and 20% of commercial farmers grow maize.…”

At a crossroads: potential impacts and trade-offs of improved livestock feeding and forages in smallholder farming systems of East Africa

“…Four case study farms were simulated with FarmDESIGN, a bio-economic farm model that calculates the impacts of various farm configurations on a large set of agro-environmental and socio-economic performance indicators. Applications of FarmDESIGN in the Netherlands (Mandryk et al, 2014), Zambia (Timler et al, 2017), and Mexico (Cortez-Arriola et al, 2014Flores-Sanchez et al, 2011Groot et al, 2016) have suggested the model is robust enough to accommodate contrasting farming systems and agro-ecologies. FarmDESIGN has been evaluated in terms of design-, output-and end-user validity.…”