Abstract
Sustainable intensification is a key component of agricultural development in Africa, urgently needed to wean the continent off foreign food supply and to limit agricultural farmland expansion. It is expected that a relatively small fraction of farmers will adopt fertilizer technology, as profits in current economic settings are relatively small while risks are considerable with varying prices and uncertain yield responses. Many smallholders depend on off-farm income and local markets for food supply. Structural adjustments are therefore needed to allow management of larger units of land by trained farmers willing to take this opportunity, while recognizing land right sensitivities. There are large opportunities for African commodity crops to improve food security, including cassava and East African highland banana that strongly respond to fertilizer with limited environmental risks under good management. This requires investments in better functioning markets, local fertilizer production facilities that can produce regional crop blends and cost-efficient distribution networks, providing balanced fertilizers for African farmers.
Highlights
Africa has a more rapidly growing population with a less developed agriculture when compared to other continents
Are smallholders the food producers of the future? We argue here that a gradual restructuring of agriculture is needed, providing sufficient scale to support modern technology with all its benefits
It needs to be gradual to allow smallholders to transition to other work while being sensitive to land rights and the needs for biodiversity, preventing large-scale clearing of landscapes to maintain a good mix of habitats
Summary
Africa has a more rapidly growing population with a less developed agriculture when compared to other continents. Increasing domestic food production reduces food prices and food imports and, importantly, improves the balance of trade enabling investment in infrastructure, education and healthcare with enduring economic benefits. These long-term benefits from agricultural policies need visionary politicians that look far beyond price shocks and short election cycles. The required recipe of combined use of fertilizers within good agricultural practices and integrated soil fertility management is well known[5] and widely tested in a range of crops Why is this recipe not resonating among smallholders? Is it fair and reasonable to expect African farmers to bridge the period required to build soil fertility before they are able to achieve the high agronomic efficiency required to repay their initial investments?
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