Sustainable intensification of African agriculture: a necessity, but not yet a reality
After decades of well-intentioned and professional research for development, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is still dominated by low-input, subsistence food crop production on small, rainfed land holdings using hand labor. What are the drivers and constraints to development in African agriculture, and how can the region intensify farming in economical and environmentally sustainable ways to satisfy its rapidly rising and shifting food demands? Looking at the evolution of global agriculture over the past 60 years[1], one cannot miss the striking differences between continents, regions and countries. Agriculture in developed countries followed the path begun during the industrial revolution in England more than 250 years ago, benefiting from agrochemicals and mechanization. Emerging countries in Asia and Latin America efficiently caught up during the Green Revolution of the mid- twentieth century[2,3]. Worldwide, farm output has met the growing demand for food from rapidly expanding populations (Fig. 1(a,b)) and, more recently, for animal products in developed and emerging economies. This did not happen without unintended effects on social equity or the environment and natural resources. Still, although for many the challenge is to produce more and better food with fewer resources, one region—sub-Saharan Africa—has not shifted gears in productivity or escaped subsistence farming. It urgently needs to do so[4].
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| Format: | Article biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Higher Education Press
2020
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| Subjects: | AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, DEVELOPMENT, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, SUBSISTENCE FARMING, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10883/21104 |
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