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.

The book highlights proceedings from the Berlin 2008: Agriculture and Development conference held in preparation for the World Development Report 2008.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Food and nutrition security (FNS) is high on the global policy agenda and is of special significance for the African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) region. Several pathways have been identified for achieving the desired FNS outcomes. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has prioritised strengthening the linkages between nutrition and agriculture as one of the three key areas for 2015 and beyond in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. It has also committed, with other leading international agencies, to a joint framework of action on “Agriculture and nutrition: a common future” which includes improving “the knowledge and evidence base to maximise the impact of food and agricultural systems on nutrition” as one of the three strategic priorities.