Sustainable intensification of agriculture in Africa

Abstract

Sustainable intensification is a key component of agricultural development in Africa, urgently needed to wean the continent off foreign food supply and to limit agricultural farmland expansion. It is expected that a relatively small fraction of farmers will adopt fertilizer technology, as profits in current economic settings are relatively small while risks are considerable with varying prices and uncertain yield responses. Many smallholders depend on off-farm income and local markets for food supply. Structural adjustments are therefore needed to allow management of larger units of land by trained farmers willing to take this opportunity, while recognizing land right sensitivities. There are large opportunities for African commodity crops to improve food security, including cassava and East African highland banana that strongly respond to fertilizer with limited environmental risks under good management. This requires investments in better functioning markets, local fertilizer production facilities that can produce regional crop blends and cost-efficient distribution networks, providing balanced fertilizers for African farmers.

Narrowing yield gaps does not guarantee a living income from smallholder farming–an empirical study from western Kenya

“…Facilitating secure land tenure arrangements could be an important role for national or local governments to foster the use of land that is currently not in use. This could enable for instance land-owners living elsewhere to rent out their land without the risk of losing their ownership rights, while those who are renting can increase production [ 52 ]. In other areas where land is relatively more abundant, such as in Busia, current fallow land can be used to increase farm area, as we found.…”

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“…On the other hand, if N inputs are managed well and used productively the benefits are substantial, too. As indicated by Schut and Giller (2020), optimal agronomic efficiency leads to a favourable return on investment from fertilizer use among African smallholders. Despite the adoption of new technologies and interventions, a notable proportion of Africans continue to grapple with food security challenges (Ozor et al, 2013).…”

Sustainable Intensification Farming as an Enabler for Farm Eco-Efficiency?

“…Hence, the concept of Sustainable Intensification (hereafter SI) has been proposed to offset the adverse effects of agricultural production (Balaine et al 2020;Baulcombe et al 2009), and to sustain rural economies (Godfray and Garnett 2014). SI-based production systems have been developed to reduce environmental harm while maintaining yield levels (Pretty 2018), or foster yield growth in developing countries while preserving ecosystems (Pretty 1997;Schut and Giller 2020) and closing yield gaps (Ray et al 2012). SI thus governs the socio-economic dimension of sustainability, while enhancing functionality of the natural ecosystem, i.e.…”