World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 167

World Food Policy

agricultural research and development
was inefficient. Weak market institutions,
ineffective crop storage facilities, high
percentage of food loss, fragile logistics
services and distribution channels,
fragile input and output market access,
lack of adequate credit system to small
farmers, lack of training, and use of news
cultural methods and technologies are
frequent failures of agricultural policies.
Agricultural and food security policies
are extremely weak and not consistent
in the long term. The situation results
from inefficient and fragile institutions,
weakened government, and public
institutions effectiveness, sometimes
political instability, corruption, or
conflicts.
Potential for Greater Productivity: A
Critical Issue

Intensification of agricultural
production is essential in the more
densely populated areas in order to feed
the rapidly growing and urbanizing
population in SSA.

To remediate the current
situation, an “African Green Revolution”
is
sometimes
proposed
(Otsuka
and Larson 2012). But sustainable
intensification of small farming systems
is probably the most accurate element of
agricultural policy in SSA. This process is
generally based on three basic elements:
(1) production of more food, feed, fuel,
and/or fiber per unit of land, labor, and/or
capital used; (2) preservation of ecosystem
services, including those governed by
healthy soils; and (3) resilience to shocks
and stresses, including climate change
(Pretty 2014). Sustainable intensification
of small farming systems recognizes

that enhanced productivity needs to
be consistent with the maintenance of
other ecosystem services and enhanced
resilience to shocks.

Increasing productivity in a
sustainable way for small farming systems
in SSA will require new technologies that
are appropriate and adaptable for African
smallholder farmers and pastoralists and
suitable for local agro-environmental
conditions at different scales (region,
village, and farm). The heterogeneity of
smallholder farming systems suggests that
processes for sustainable intensification
will need to be flexible and adapted to
local agro-ecological and socioeconomic
conditions. Wealthier farmers can move
into the process with investments into
knowledge acquisition (Pretty 2011).
For poorer households, more incentive
structures would be required, provided
that such household can move out of the
poverty trap.

In any case, enhanced productivity
requires access to agro-inputs, profitable
output markets, and access to credit,
rural
infrastructure,
marketing,
processing and storage organization,
reduction of post-harvest losses, and
proper access to agricultural knowledge,
services, and information. Government
investments and policy frameworks will
be crucial, including facilitating private
sector engagement. In this case, policy
regulations, incentives, and coherent
intervention strategies across national,
regional, community, and farm scales
appear essential.

Doubling agricultural output to
meet demand and alleviate hunger will
increase pressure on already-stressed
resources, requiring greater efficiency in
agriculture and food systems. Sustainable

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