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 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 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.

Poverty continues to persist in many countries throughout the world despite improvements in the global trade regime and significant enhancement in agricultural productivity through the green revolution technologies. To achieve the millennium goal of halving poverty by 2015, these people should be provided with alternative production opportunities that can generate new employment and enhance incomes. Data from several countries reviewed in this study confirm that agricultural diversification can contribute to this. In a scenario of shrinking land and depleting water resources, the challenge of the new millennium is to increase biological yields to feed the ever-growing population without destroying the ecological foundation. It is thus important-not to package this challenge as a demand or imposition on farmers, for which they would bear the cost, but as a necessity and methodology to also sustain their welfare. This book deals with different practices in agriculture diversification. Care has been taken to include applied aspects and present scenario of different practices necessary for agriculture to the diversification. The book will be of use to the students, researchers and progressive farmers.

The Role of Ecosystem Services in Sustainable Food Systems reveals, in simple terms, the operational definition, concepts and applications of ecosystem services with a focus on sustainable food systems. The book presents case studies on both geographical and production system-wide considerations. Initial chapters discuss concepts, methodologies and the tools needed to understand ecosystem services in the broader food system. Middle and later chapters present different perspectives from case studies of ecosystem services derived from some of the key sustainable food production systems used by farmers, along with discussions on the challenges of deriving full benefits and how they can be overcome. Researchers, students, scientists, development practitioners and policymakers will welcome this reference as they continue their work related to sustainable food systems. - Introduces the concept of ecosystem services in simple terms for a wide readership - Provides an explanation of sustainable food systems - Contains the tools to identify and quantify ecosystem services in sustainable food systems - Identifies ecosystem services in specific systems utilized for sustainable food systems - Categorizes the challenges of deriving maximum benefits of ecosystem services

This book discusses agricultural diversification, nutritional security and environmental sustainability. It helps to address the multipronged challenges of nutritional security while preserving the dwindling natural resources in the current fluctuating climate conditions. Energy-intensive, conventional agricultural production systems accelerate environmental footprints, resource mining, biodiversity losses, and human health problems and reduce soil functionality. Diversified farming can potentially enhance yield, food security, and climate change buffering as it helps to achieve advanced food security by efficient resource use and profit maximization. This book covers the challenges faced during the adoption of diversified farming and opportunities to enhanced food production and minimize the environmental footprints. This book is useful for academicians, researchers, ecologists, environmentalists, students, capacity builders, and policymakers to have in-depth knowledge of this complex and diverse field. This book also helps in devising a road map for policy planning and advancement of existing knowledge for various stakeholders working in this field.

Sustainable Food Production Practices in the Caribbean addresses the issue of sustainable agriculture from a practical perspective. Although the scientific and technological aspects are given attention, the authors use their accumulated research and field experiences to focus on tested, simple production systems and practices that sustain soil fertility, ecosystems and people. In so doing, they consistently advocate crop and livestock production techniques that require an agro-ecological approach, aimed at reducing the use of water, chemicals and pesticides and the preservation of the region's soils. This volume fills a void in this important area of Caribbean development: from the large scale farming organizations to the small farming communities that are the backbone of agriculture in the region; from undergraduates at the newly energized Faculty of Food and Agriculture at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus and other tertiary agriculture training institutions around the region to a young generation of students who now have the opportunity to sit for the new examination in Food and the Environment offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council at advanced (CAPE) certificate level. This book will also be a useful tool for agriculture extension officers and policymakers who are called upon to provide advice and leadership in the promotion of sustainable food production in the Caribbean. The 20 chapters in Sustainable Food Production Practices are comprehensive in their coverage of issues that go beyond primary food production to include often neglected areas such as post harvest, quality assurance, local regional and international marketing, post-production methods and systems and sustainable nutritional practices. Throughout, the emphasis is on simple, jargon-free descriptions, instructions and recommendations, supported by a variety of charts, tables and numerous full-colour photographs that richly illustrate key elements of the text.