Download or read book Multi scale Sustainable Intensification of Small holder Agriculture in Malawi written by Leah Muthoni Mungai and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malawi's smallholder agricultural production is a maize-mixed system following the unimodal rainfall system, prone to climate shocks causing variable crop yields that increase food insecurity. Smallholder farmers make decisions on crop and farm management based on resource availability as well as socio-economic and environmental factors. The government of Malawi has made efforts to improve agricultural production through fertilizer subsidies and the promotion of sustainable farm practices such as legume intercropping and crop residue management practices for soil fertility enhancement. Such efforts are part of the Sustainable Intensification (SI) of Agriculture pathway widely supported across Africa as a means to increase food and agricultural production. The purpose of this research is to examine Malawi's agriculture through a multi-scale lens; national, sub-regional and local recognizing the spatial-temporal environmental and social drivers occurring across agro-ecologies and influencing smallholder farmers and their capacity for sustainable food production. We assess spatial patterns of Malawian productivity using decadal (2006-2017) climate, edaphic properties, and vegetation indexes, where spatially-located positive trends discrete from climate are presented as evidence of where Intensification (SI) of agriculture is taking place. Secondly, a baseline study that captures farmer demographics and farm practices from randomly stratified sites with varying agro-ecologies is carried out to better understand the contemporary Malawian farmer, the environment within which they produce food, and their overall potential for sustainable agriculture. Land Use Land Cover (LULC) change analyses and landscape quantification of agricultural intensification patterns and their underlying landscape processes are assessed for evidence of sustainable practices. Additionally, we elucidate the landscape patterns of the SI of agriculture associated with Malawi's agricultural extension delivery system. The main findings show evidence of positive spatial trends in Malawi's agricultural productivity that are not influenced by mesic climatic signals. This is consistent with evidence of farmer managed agricultural intensification. At the sub-regional scale, there are few land use changes in Central Malawi's Dedza and Ntcheu districts from 2014 to 2019 demonstrating the stability and maturity of this traditional agricultural landscape. However, overall land fragmentation has increased, particularly in land classified as agroforestry and shrubs/forests classes possibly indicating increased use of sustainable farming practices. Smallholders in central Malawi seek location specific agricultural advice on cropping systems and soil nutrient management recommendations. Effective delivery of advice by extension, responsive to farmer goals, could potentially boost farmer adoption of SI technologies.
Download or read book Sustainable Intensification written by Jules N. Pretty and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.
Download or read book Save and Grow written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-06-22 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book offers a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable ecosystem-based practices that can help the world's 500 million smallholder farm families achieve higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency while enhancing natural capital.
Download or read book Services and Policies Needed to Support Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture in Malawi written by Martin Whiteside and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sustainable Intensification of Food Production Systems in Malawi written by Daniel Gerald TerAvest and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smallholder farmers in southeastern Africa are constrained by poor rainwater-use efficiency, soil degradation, and limited financial resources. Conservation agriculture (CA), based on the principles of minimal soil disturbance, year-round ground cover, and diverse crop rotations, is being promoted to sustainably improve crop production, food security, and smallholder farm income. Adoption of CA principles in the region has predominately been limited to eliminating tillage and retaining residues, with little adoption of crop rotations. In this study, three cropping systems---continuous no-till maize, CA rotation, and conventional tillage rotation---were established on smallholder farms in the Nkhotakota and Dowa districts, two distinct agro-ecological zones in Malawi. Three-year crop rotations of cassava, cowpea, and maize and cassava, soybean, maize were implemented in CA and conventional tillage, respectively, in Nkhotakota. In Dowa, a 3-year rotation of sweet potato, bean, and maize was implemented in both CA and conventional tillage. Cropping systems were analyzed for their impacts on crop production, soil-water relations, soil quality, and financial returns from 2011 to 2014. No-till maize and CA improved infiltration and the soil water balance compared to conventional tillage in Nkhotakota but did not affect soil-water relations in Dowa. No-till maize and CA increased exchangeable K, Ca, and Mg and reduced soil erosion compared to conventional tillage. In no-till maize, retention of low quality residue resulted in N immobilization. Conservation agriculture improved plant available N and nutrient cycling compared to no-till maize, but less residue cover increased bulk density compared to no-till maize and conventional tillage. Soils in conventional tillage had the most plant available N, which could lead to N leaching and reduced fertilizer-use efficiency. Tillage and residue management did not affect yields of cassava, sweet potato, cowpea, soybean, or bean. Crop rotation, regardless of tillage practice, increased maize yields compared to no-till maize. Net revenue was highest in no-till maize and labor productivity and gross margins were higher in no-till and conventional tillage than in CA rotation. Before widespread adoption of CA can occur, further research is needed to improve alternative crop production under CA management and identify the most appropriate agroecological zones for successful CA.
Download or read book Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture written by Ingrid Oborn and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-02-17 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable intensification has recently been developed and adopted as a key concept and driver for research and policy in sustainable agriculture. It includes ecological, economic and social dimensions, where food and nutrition security, gender and equity are crucial components. This book describes different aspects of systems research in agriculture in its broadest sense, where the focus is moved from farming systems to livelihoods systems and institutional innovation. Much of the work represents outputs of the three CGIAR Research Programs on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics, Aquatic Agricultural Systems and Dryland Systems. The chapters are based around four themes: the conceptual underpinnings of systems research; sustainable intensification in practice; integrating nutrition, gender and equity in research for improved livelihoods; and systems and institutional innovation. While most of the case studies are from countries and agro-ecological zones in Africa, there are also some from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Download or read book Sustainable Agricultural Intensification written by Mateete Bekunda and published by Cabi. This book was released on 2022-04 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an insight into the background, lessons learned, and the methodology of facilitating the application of best-bet/best-fit agricultural technologies to smallholder farms in East and Southern Africa (ESA). All technologies highlighted within this book, except those on livestock feeding, were trialed and demonstrated in farmers' fields over an eight-year period [2012 - 2020] as part of the Feed the Future/USAID funded research-for-development Africa RISING ESA Project and supported by the CGIAR. The livestock feed technologies were compiled from Eastern Africa literature and included to offer a full set of technologies relevant for farmers in mixed farming systems. Topics covered include the introduction of resilient and nutrient-dense crops, better arrangement of crops in the field to amplify intercrop benefits, and the management of soils to improve soil fertility and minimize physical soil and nutrient loss. The publication also features technologies for postharvest loss reduction, livestock feeding, food processing, and in the later chapters, important expositions on how multiple technologies can be creatively integrated in a farming system and how key products of research can be taken to scale. In the first chapter and throughout the handbook, the importance of taking gender dynamics into account to ensure technologies produce equitable outcomes is emphasized. This book: provides evidence-based descriptions of sustainable agricultural intensification technologies that have been validated iteratively with smallholder farmers. a convenient, easy-to-read, and science-based 'how-to' guide for successful deployment of improved agricultural technologies that will ensure readers from development/scaling agencies save time and resources for research trials and instead focus on technology deployment. gives evidence of how building research and development partnerships can be a critical element for successful delivery and scaling up of agricultural technologies. The book is aimed primarily at development practitioners who seek new competences in taking new technologies to scale. However, the breadth of topics covered makes this book an essential resource for agricultural scientists as well as university and college students aspiring to apply systems thinking in future agricultural research and development work.
Download or read book Participatory Approaches to Diversification and Intensification of Crop Production on Smallholder Farms in Malawi written by and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Agriculture Diversification and Gender in Rural Africa written by Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contributes to the understanding of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa through addressing the dynamics of intensification and diversification within and outside agriculture in contexts where women have much poorer access to agrarian resources than men
Download or read book Farming Systems and Poverty written by John A. Dixon and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2001 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.
Download or read book Contested Agronomy written by James Sumberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic increases in food prices experienced over the last four years, and their effects of hunger and food insecurity, as well as human-induced climate change and its implications for agriculture, food production and food security, are key topics within the field of agronomy and agricultural research. Contested Agronomy addresses these issues by exploring key developments since the mid-1970s, focusing in particular on the emergence of the neoliberal project and the rise of the participation and environmental agendas, taking into consideration how these have had profound impacts on the practice of agronomic research in the developing world especially over the last four decades. This book explores, through a series of case studies, the basis for a much needed ‘political agronomy’ analysis that highlights the impacts of problem framing and narratives, historical disjunctures, epistemic communities and the increasing pressure to demonstrate ‘success’ on both agricultural research and the farmers, processors and consumers it is meant to serve. Whilst being a fascinating and thought-provoking read for professionals in the Agriculture and Environmental sciences, it will also appeal to students and researchers in agricultural policy, development studies, geography, public administration, rural sociology, and science and technology studies.
Download or read book Agriculture food security and nutrition in Malawi Leveraging the links written by Aberman, Noora-Lisa and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the Malawian food supply is shaped largely by trends in smallholder food crop production, Malawi’s decades-long focus on improving smallholder productivity has only moderately improved food security and nutrition outcomes. Country statistics indicate an estimated 36.7 percent of rural Malawian households failed to access sufficient calories between 2010 and 2011. During the same period, 47 percent of children under the age of five years were estimated to be stunted in their growth. These indicators imply that some Malawian diets are lacking in terms of quantity (total calories consumed), and most are lacking in terms of quality (sufficient calories derived from nutrient-dense foods, such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, fruits, and vegetables). Good nutrition requires both enough total calories (quantity) and enough vitamins and minerals per calorie (quality). How can Malawi better leverage its smallholder agriculture sector to improve nutrition? This report provides a series of primary and secondary data analyses that examine different aspects of this question.
Download or read book Disentangling food security from subsistence agriculture in Malawi written by Benson, Todd and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-05-24 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization A Framework for Africa written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-03-13 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This framework presents ten interrelated principles/elements to guide Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Further, it presents the technical issues to be considered under SAMA and the options to be analysed at the country and sub regional levels. The ten key elements required in a framework for SAMA are as follows: The analysis in the framework calls for a specific approach, involving learning from other parts of the world where significant transformation of the agricultural mechanization sector has already occurred within a three-to-four decade time frame, and developing policies and programmes to realize Africa’s aspirations of Zero Hunger by 2025. This approach entails the identification and prioritization of relevant and interrelated elements to help countries develop strategies and practical development plans that create synergies in line with their agricultural transformation plans. Given the unique characteristics of each country and the diverse needs of Africa due to the ecological heterogeneity and the wide range of farm sizes, the framework avoids being prescriptive.
Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators written by Simon Bell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-06-14 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides researchers and students with an overview of the field of sustainability indicators (SIs) as applied in the interdisciplinary field of sustainable development. The editors have sought to include views from the center ground of SI development but also divergent ideas which represent some of the diverse, challenging and even edgy observations which are prominent in the wider field of SI thinking. The contributions in this handbook: • clearly set out the theoretical background and history of SIs, their origins, roots and initial goals • expand on the disciplines and modalities employed to develop SIs of various kinds • assess the various ways in which SI data are gathered and the availability (over space and time) and quality issues that surround them • explore the multiplex world of SIs as expressed in agencies around the world, via examples of SI practice and the lessons that have emerged from them • critically review the progress that SIs have made over the last 30 years • express the divergence of views which are held about the value of SIs, including differing theories on their efficacy, efficiency and ethics • explore the frontier of contemporary SI thinking, reviewing ante/post and systemic alternatives This multidisciplinary and international handbook will be of great interest to researchers, students and practitioners working in sustainability research and practice.
Download or read book Sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia written by Benjamin Karikari and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2024-04-17 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mapping the linkages between agriculture food security and nutrition in Malawi written by Aberman, Noora-Lisa and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2015-12-16 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smallholder agriculture is the mainstay of Malawi’s economy. Its importance for livelihoods cannot be overstated. 94 percent of rural residents and 38 percent of urban residents engage in agriculture to some extent (Jones, Shrinivas, and Bezner-Kerr 2014), the vast majority as smallholder farmers with landholdings of less than one hectare. Smallholder crops are primarily maize—which accounted for nearly 80 percent of smallholder-cultivated land in 2011 —followed by cassava and other food crops (FAO 2008; IFAD 2011). These foods are grown for household consumption and for sale at local and regional markets. As such, the Malawian food supply, especially in rural areas where markets are thin with few buying or selling options, is shaped largely by trends in smallholder food-crop production
