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Understanding and informing decisions on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa

Understanding and informing decisions on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa

Haggar, Jeremy ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4682-4879, Nelson, Valerie ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1075-0238, Lamboll, Richard and Rodenburg, Jonne ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9059-9253 (2020) Understanding and informing decisions on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability (IJAS), 19 (5-6). pp. 349-358. ISSN 1473-5903 (Print), 1747-762X (Online) (doi:10.1080/14735903.2020.1818483)

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Abstract

Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI) was initially defined as increasing agricultural production without adverse environmental impacts and without increasing the area under agriculture. Overtime the concept has been broadened to integrate social, economic, and environmental components of sustainability, each of which covers multiple facets or indicators of performance. It is recognized however that it may not be possible to optimise all these aspects of sustainability simultaneously and that trade-offs between them are likely to occur, although synergies are also possible. There has been disagreement over how to achieve SAI, with some proposing that only an “agroecological” intensification pathway delivers sustainability. Others take a broader perspective arguing that all aspects of ecological, genetic, and socio-economic intensification need to be considered, but then assessed in terms of the sustainability of the outcomes. A major concern is that intensification that focuses on agricultural technology can lead to inequitable outcomes for women and poorer households, while agroecological intensification building upon local capitals is generally considered more equitable. Understanding the potential outcomes and inherent trade-offs of different approaches requires interdisciplinary research, evidence and decision-making tools, some examples of which are presented in this Special Issue.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Agroecology, Equity, Environment, Food security, Sustainability
Subjects: S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Engineering & Science
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Agriculture, Health & Environment Department
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Ecosystem Services Research Group
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Livelihoods & Institutions Department
Last Modified: 10 Jan 2022 16:45
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/29715

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