Sustainable agricultural practices and their adoption in sub-Saharan Africa

Africa is currently only producing about 10% of global agricultural output while estimated to possess 25% of the world’s arable land. That said, the estimated additional available agricultural land is probably lower than what is generally assumed given the trend in rising rural population density, which, in places is comparable to Asian levels. Moreover, most soils are fragile with low nutrients and organic matter concentration.A "great balancing act" is needed between the increasing and diversifying food and nutrition security (FNS) needs and the resources available. More generically, reaching FNS faces both conventional (demographics) and emerging challenges (climate change). The debate on the sustainability of agriculture requires translation into specific approached and practices. The report gathers a conventional literature review of existing publications (Peer-reviewed journals, major reports and relevant project documents). The material consulted was mostly in English with references to French documents particularly for West and Central African experiences. The key databases consulted were Scopus and Google Scholar.The challenges faced by Africa’s agriculture are very diverse considering a sustainable approach in responding to the regions’ FNS needs. As such, there is no single solution (‘silver bullet’) allowing the sector to sustainably increase its contribution to food supply. Ultimately, opting for a coherent set of approaches or more targeted agricultural practices depends on the great diversity of local contexts (environmental, institutional, seasonal, etc.) as well as characteristics and motivation of individual farmers and their communities. Collective action in the uptake of key practices has been recorded as having produced more sustainable benefits. When looking at each newly adapted practice as innovations it is essential to look towards more coherent, and more importantly, effective sustainable production systems. For FNS intervention to be sustainable, intervention would benefit from adopting a landscape framework so that the various objectives of sustainability can be coherently negotiated alongside pure FNS objectives. Considering land sharing could be particularly relevant for areas with potential agriculture frontier (e.g. Sahel countries, RDC) but also to those were forest "encroachment" is the only remaining frontier given the rising population density. Management approaches that could improve soils emerge as a prerequisite to conventional intensification. As it is the case for input-based intensification of agriculture, the results from the different management-based approaches are not universal and absolute responses cannot be derived from the cases reviewed (including the meta-analyses). Careful targeting and local adaptation remain fundamental ingredients for both improved performance and the long-term adoption of any of the principles and associated practices. A general challenge for adoption is that of timing. Any new practice or approach promoted is expected to provide at least a perceivable improvement in the objectives of farmers in the short-term, when they are generally most sensitive to.