AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016

CSA is not just a set of practices that can be universally
applied, but rather an approach that involves different elements
embedded in local contexts (FAO, 2013b, 2014a).
The approach relates to actions both on farm and beyond
the farm, and incorporates technologies, policies, institutions
and investment. Different elements that can be integrated
into a CSA approach include:
1. Management of farms, crops, livestock, aquaculture
and capture fisheries to manage resources better, produce
more with less while increasing resilience.
2. Ecosystem and landscape management to conserve
ecosystem services that are key to increase resource
efficiency and resilience.
3. Services for farmers and land managers to enable
them to implement the necessary changes.
4. Institutions that can support food security now as well
as under the expected impacts of climate change,
hence build adaptive capacity.
5. Financing mechanisms at all levels to support evidence-based
CSA policies and programs.
However, technologies alone will not increase resilience
or improve livelihoods of significant numbers of smallholders,
who survive within complex systems (Sullivan,
Mwamakamba, Mumba, Hachigonta & Sibanda, 2012).
Technology transfer focused approaches that have been
tried for decades with hundreds of millions of dollars invested
in research, have not transformed the livelihoods of
African smallholders as intended. An integrated approach
such as CSA that has an explicit focus on improving food
security under the challenges brought about by climate
change including all aspects of the food system, enabling
environment and financing is needed to make a step towards
the needed transformation. Box 4.4 summarizes a
science-based decision support tool for CSA to address
the lack of comprehensive evidence on CSA contributions
of a comprehensive set of field level practices, which are
the starting point of discussions on CSA approach.
Many of the interventions that are mentioned in the other
sections of this publication (especially chapters 5, 6 and 8)
have the potential to build environmental, economic and
social resilience. They also have the potential to be part
of a CSA approach when designed and targeted though a
climate change lens. Whether or not they can be considered
CSA in a specific agro-ecological and socio-economic
setting, however, needs to be assessed case by case
considering all three objectives at multiple scales (local to
global) and over short and long time horizons, to derive locally
acceptable solutions (Lipper et al., 2014). In the next
sub-sections, we first discuss several technological entry
points for SI with examples where relevant, which need to
be assessed for implementation. We then provide social,
institutional and policy entry points that need to be combined
with the technological options to be part of a CSA
approach to improve the overall resilience of agricultural
systems.
Technological entry points for sustainable
intensification
Intensifying good agro-ecological practices-ecological
intensification
Increased uptake of good agro-ecological practices can
contribute to one of the important aspirations of SI, which
is sustained increases in total factor productivity (TFP) reflecting
more efficient use of various factors of production
(World Bank, 2000). Increases in TFP are needed to close
the large yield gaps between agronomic potential (what is
attainable with good management practices under rainfed
conditions) and what farmers currently receive. Increases
in TFP reflect improvements in the efficiency in the use
of the aggregate bundle of inputs. The technological entry
points for SI discussed under the good agro-ecological
practices in this section have the potential to increase TFP
by raising productivity from existing cultivated land using
improved crop varieties, soil and water management practices,
while protecting the environment and delivering acceptable
rates of economic returns to farmers (Cassman,
1999).
Africa has large agro-ecological diversity and farming
systems. A one-size-fits all approach should therefore be
avoided. SI examples below should offer options across
all major farming systems including those for large-scale
farmers. It is therefore critical for SI pathways to be context
specific in this highly heterogeneous environment.
Increasing uptake of Agroforestry interventions
When designed and implemented correctly, agroforestry
combines the best practices of tree growing and agricultural
systems, resulting in more sustainable use of land (Buttoud,
2013). This author also notes that combinations of trees,
crops and livestock mitigate environmental risk, help create
a permanent soil cover against erosion, minimize damage
from flooding and enhance water storage, benefitting crops
and pastures. In addition, trees bring nutrients from deeper
soil layers or in the case of leguminous trees, through nitrogen
fixation, which can convert leaf litter into fertilizer for
crops. Agroforestry can also complement forestry sector efforts
in sustainable forest management by providing a set
AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016
89