Sustainable Intensification: Increasing Productivity in African Food and Agricultural Systems

Description

Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification -- producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts -- represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from forty sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in twenty countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.

Jules Pretty is Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Essex, and Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex, UK. His 16 books include This Luminous Coast (2011), The Earth Only Endures (2007), and Agri-Culture (2002). He is Chief Editor of the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability and received an OBE in 2006 for services to sustainable agriculture, and an honorary degree from Ohio State University in 2009. Stella Williams is from Nigeria, and is a fisheries and agricultural economist with experitse in rural economic development. She has served on many international Boards where she ensures support for women and youth empowerment. She is an advocate for educational development across sub-Saharan Africa. Camilla Toulmin has studied land tenure, farming strategies and livelihood options in dryland Africa. An economist by training, she is Director of the IIED and a member of the UK government Foresight project.