In order to meet projected demand over the next 40 years, farmers in the developing world must double food production, a challenge made even more daunting by the combined effects of climate change and growing competition for land, water and energy. In order to grow, agriculture must learn to save.
The book presents a new paradigm: sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI), which produces more from the same area of land while conserving resources, reducing negative impacts on the environment and enhancing natural capital and the flow of ecosystem services. It presents a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable and adaptable ecosystem-based practices that enhance crop productivity and can serve as the cornerstone of national and regional programmes.
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The book also explores the policy environment and the institutional arrangements that will facilitate the adoption and implementation of SCPI on a large scale. To encourage smallholders to adopt sustainable crop production intensification, fundamental changes are needed.
Policymakers need to devise incentives for small-scale farmers to use natural resources wisely – for example, through payments for environmental services – and reduce the transaction costs of access to credit, which is urgently needed for investment. Major investment will be needed to rebuild research and technology transfer capacity in developing countries in order to provide farmers with appropriate technologies and to enhance their skills through farmer field schools.
The various chapters of the book can be viewed here –