The document discusses sustainable intensification as a new paradigm for African agriculture that focuses on producing more outputs from the same or less land through efficient use of inputs while minimizing environmental damage. It provides examples of sustainable intensification practices being used in Africa like microdosing fertilizers in West Africa, the zai system of soil and water conservation in Burkina Faso, agroforestry with home gardens and Faidherbia trees, and new crop varieties like NERICA rice and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. It also describes the Faso Jigi marketing cooperative in Mali that helps smallholders access markets. The document recommends policies and investments that combine intensification with sustainable solutions, support for research and scaling up technologies, and

1. Sustainable
Intensification:
A New Paradigm for
African Agriculture
2013 Montpellier
Panel Report

3. Crop yields, 1960-2010

4. Definition
• Sustainable Intensification is about producing more outputs with
more efficient use of all inputs – on a durable basis – while reducing
environmental damage and building resilience, natural capital and
the flow of environmental services.
• For instance:
– Increased production, income, nutrition or other returns
– On the same amount of, or less, land and water,
– With efficient and prudent use of inputs,
– Minimising greenhouse gas emissions,
– While increasing natural capital and the flow of environmental
services,
– Strengthening resilience and Reducing environmental impact,
– Through innovative technologies and processes

5. Inputs of SI

6. Outputs from SI

10. Microdosing in Niger, Mali
and Burkina Faso
Each microdose consists of a six-
gram mix of phosphorus and
nitrogen fertiliser, which just fills
the cap of a soda bottle, and is then
poured into each hole before the
seed is planted.
• equates to using only four kg/ha,
• significantly less than Europe and
North America
• For example, millet yields
increased by over 50% and crops
are better able to absorb water

11. Zai system
Farmers first dig medium-sized holes (or zais)
in rows across the fields during the dry season.
Each zai is allowed to fill with leaves and
farmers add manure, which during the dry
months attracts termites; these create an
extensive network of underground tunnels
beneath the holes and bring up nutrients from
the deeper soils.
• Water loss through drainage is limited
• In Burkina Faso, grain yield increases of
120% equating to around 80,000 tons of
extra grain per year
• The labour in the first year is quite high, but
after that farmers may reuse the holes or
dig more between the existing ones.
• A key factor in the spread of zai adoption
was the student-teacher system led by the
innovators of the technique to train
farmers.

12. Agroforestry
Home gardens
• Offer great diversity of useful plants and small livestock
in a small area, cultivated in intricate relationships with
one another.
• often a sustainable source of a variety of nutritious
foods for family consumption.
• For example, Farm Africa and its partners are working
to develop cropping of, and markets for, African
indigenous vegetables (AIVs) in Tanzania and Kenya as
important sources of nutrients and income.
Faidherbia trees
• sheds its leaves in the wet season, thereby providing
nutrients to the soil below and allowing for light to pass
through. As a consequence it is possible to plant and
grow maize under the trees.
• Yields can be over three tons/ha even without
fertilisers, depending on the nitrogen fixed by the trees.
• The trees also contribute two tons or more per hectare
of carbon to the soil and mature trees can store over 30
tons of carbon per hectare.

13. New Rice for Africa (NERICA)
• Crossing between Asian and African rice
species through conventional breeding,
• grow well in drought-prone and upland
conditions, as well as being resistant to
local pests and diseases, and tolerant of
poor nutrient conditions and mineral
toxicity.
• show early vigorous growth and crowd out
weeds.
• Result of collaboration with Chinese
scientists providing a new tissue culture
method involving the use of coconut
oil, which proved highly successful
• Because of the higher yields of the new
varieties Uganda was able to reduce its
rice imports by half and farmers’ incomes
increased.

14. Orange-fleshed sweet
potatoes in Mozambique
• Sweet potatoes grow well on marginal
land but are white-fleshed in
Mozambique, meaning they are rich in
carbohydrates but lacking in beta-
carotene, which our bodies convert into
vitamin A.
• To overcome this deficiency, beta-
carotene rich, orange-fleshed varieties of
sweet potato were introduced
• By 2005 half a million households had
received improved planting material.
• By 2011, 15 new drought-resistant
varieties were released, capable of
producing up to 15 tons/ha.
• Adoption rates are high, including
amongst women and children, with nearly
a doubling of daily intake of beta-
carotene and significant increases in
vitamin A.

15. Faso Jigi in Mali
Faso Jigi was set up in 1995 with the aim of
assisting smallholder producers of cereals and
shallots in marketing their products by:
• Reducing transaction costs through
economies of scale in storage and
transportation,
• Disseminating market information to
smallholders,
• Enabling access to technical advice,
• Making collective purchases of inputs,
• Advancing credit to smallholders against a
commitment to deliver, and
• Creating an insurance fund.
Since its establishment, over 5,000 farmers in 134
cooperatives have become involved. Wholesalers
prefer sourcing from Faso Jigi and are willing to
pay higher prices because the association offers
centralisation of stocks, better quality of storage
facilities and accessibility.

16. Recommendations
 Adopt policies and plans that combine intensification with
sustainable solutions and a focus on the food security needs of
people
 Increase financial support for global and domestic research and
innovation to develop and identify suitable technologies and
processes
 Scale up and out of appropriate and effective technologies and
processes
 Increase investment in rural agricultural market systems and
linkages that support the spread and demand for Sustainable
Intensification
 Emphasise greater access to inputs, credit, land and water rights
for smallholder
 Build on and share the expertise of African smallholder farmers in
the practice of Sustainable Intensification.