We believe that it’s possible to increase pro-
duction without doing harm. This involves a
process of sustainable intensification.
How to intensify without doing damage
Sustainable intensification envisages increasing
productivity while decreasing the agriculture’s
negative impact on the environment.
This approach to farming was initially aimed
at smallholders in developing countries, but
the concept has now been widely adopted
by other agrarian sectors.
In addition, agriculture in Africa is better
positioned to adopt the key tenets of increasing
production without causing undue harm.
This is because agriculture on the continent
has generally been less intensive. It has always
incorporated aspects of sustainability practices.
For example, very few chemicals have been
used. There have been higher levels of social
integrity including environmental protection,
economic viability and social integrity. This
can be seen from the fact that African farm-
ers have always employed practices like crop
rotation and inter-cropping. These were initially
dismissed in favour of monoculture and
plantation agriculture as colonialism took hold.
The di
culty of measuring success
Various tools have been developed to assess
progress towards sustainable agriculture.
But a lack of agreement about what should
be measured, and how, has led to a great
deal of confusion and frustration, particularly
for farmers. It has also left consumers unsure
about what really constitutes sustainable
agricultural production.
But agricultural systems are complex and
diverse. This makes the use of a single
blueprint for assessment impractical.
Nevertheless, success can be measured by
using appropriate environmental, economic
and social parameters. These can give an
indication of whether certain trends are
stabilising, rising or declining.
The three most important dimensions to
measure are environmental protection, eco-
nomic viability and social equity.
All will be affected by location, production
system, scale of operation and time of assess-
ment. Measuring nitrogen balance - the
measure of nitrogen input through fertiliser
minus output through crop uptake - is a
good example. This is an important environ-
Agriculture in Africa has always incorporated aspects of sustainability practices.