Lessons on enabling African smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, to benefit from sustainable agricultural intensification

Abstract

ABSTRACT The papers in this Special Issue on what works and what is unlikely to work to enable poorer smallholders, especially women and youth, to benefit from Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI) come from the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning programme. Three aspects of SAI are considered: (i) the equity of outcomes from SAI and how decisions to support equity can be better informed; (ii) the social, economic and environmental trade-offs associated with SAI, how they are perceived and can be managed and (iii) how farmers access to services and information needed to implement SAI can be facilitated. Whether considering the gender and generational equities of participation in SAI or how trade-offs limit adoption of SAI, it is the local social, economic and environmental conditions that determine the outcome. We conclude that the participation of local stakeholders in the adaptation of SAI to local social, economic and environmental conditions is critical to enabling poorer smallholders, women and youth to benefit from SAI. While some tools and processes are presented that may support this, there remains a challenge as to how such processes can be integrated into national policies and institutions.