Adoptability of sustainable intensification technologies in dryland smallholder farming systems of West Africa; Research Report No. 64

Agricultural intensification in Africa is a necessary development, if rural poverty is to be reduced and sufficient food is to be produced for the increasing and urbanizing populations. For agriculture to be sustainable in the long run, the intensification process should not greatly reduce environmental quality or degrade natural vegetation; hence the term ‘sustainable agricultural intensification’ has been defined as a change in the production system towards increased input use leading to increased productivity, according to agroecological principles and without adverse environmental impacts or the cultivation of new land..