Camilla Toulmin

Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture: Premises and Policies

Clearer understanding is needed of the premises underlying SI and how it relates to food-system priorities. Food security is high on the global policy agenda. Demand for food is increasing as populations grow and gain wealth to purchase more varied and resource-intensive diets. There is increased competition for land, water, energy, and other inputs into food production. Climate change poses challenges to agriculture, particularly in developing countries (1), and many current farming practices damage the environment and are a major source of greenhouse gases (GHG). In an increasingly globalized world, food insecurity in one region can have widespread political and economic ramifications (2).

Sustainable intensification in African agriculture

Over the past half-century, agricultural production gains have provided a platform for rural and urban economic growth worldwide. In African countries, however, agriculture has been widely assumed to have performed badly. Foresight commissioned analyses of 40 projects and programmes in 20 countries where sustainable intensification has been developed during the 1990s–2000s. The cases included crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture and novel policies and partnerships. By early 2010, these projects had documented benefits for 10.39 million farmers and their families and improvements on approximately 12.75 million ha. Food outputs by sustainable intensification have been multiplicative—by which yields per hectare have increased by combining the use of new and improved varieties and new agronomic—agroecological management (crop yields rose on average by 2.13-fold), and additive—by which diversification has resulted in the emergence of a range of new crops, livestock or fish that added to the existing staples or vegetables already being cultivated. The challenge is now to spread effective processes and lessons to many more millions of generally small farmers and pastoralists across the whole continent. These projects had seven common lessons for scaling up and spreading: (i) science and farmer inputs into technologies and practices that combine crops—animals with agroecological and agronomic management; (ii) creation of novel social infrastructure that builds trust among individuals and agencies; (iii) improvement of farmer knowledge and capacity through the use of farmer field schools and modern information and communication technologies; (iv) engagement with the private sector for supply of goods and services; (v) a focus on womens educational, microfinance and agricultural technology needs; (vi) ensuring the availability of microfinance and rural banking; and (vii) ensuring public sector support for agriculture. This research forms part of the UK Governments Foresight Global Food and Farming project.

The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture

Despite a significant growth in food production over the past half-century, one of the most important challenges facing society today is how to feed an expected population of some nine billion by the middle of the 20th century. To meet the expected demand for food without significant increases in prices, it has been estimated that we need to produce 70–100 per cent more food, in light of the growing impacts of climate change, concerns over energy security, regional dietary shifts and the Millennium Development target of halving world poverty and hunger by 2015. The goal for the agricultural sector is no longer simply to maximize productivity, but to optimize across a far more complex landscape of production, rural development, environmental, social justice and food consumption outcomes. However, there remain significant challenges to developing national and international policies that support the wide emergence of more sustainable forms of land use and efficient agricultural production. The lack of information flow between scientists, practitioners and policy makers is known to exacerbate the difficulties, despite increased emphasis upon evidence-based policy. In this paper, we seek to improve dialogue and understanding between agricultural research and policy by identifying the 100 most important questions for global agriculture. These have been compiled using a horizon-scanning approach with leading experts and representatives of major agricultural organizations worldwide. The aim is to use sound scientific evidence to inform decision making and guide policy makers in the future direction of agricultural research priorities and policy support. If addressed, we anticipate that these questions will have a significant impact on global agricultural practices worldwide, while improving the synergy between agricultural policy, practice and research. This research forms part of the UK Governments Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures project.

The future of the global food system.

Although food prices in major world markets are at or near a historical low, there is increasing concern about food security—the ability of the world to provide healthy and environmentally sustainable diets for all its peoples. This article is an introduction to a collection of reviews whose authors were asked to explore the major drivers affecting the food system between now and 2050. A first set of papers explores the main factors affecting the demand for food (population growth, changes in consumption patterns, the effects on the food system of urbanization and the importance of understanding income distributions) with a second examining trends in future food supply (crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and ‘wild food’). A third set explores exogenous factors affecting the food system (climate change, competition for water, energy and land, and how agriculture depends on and provides ecosystem services), while the final set explores cross-cutting themes (food system economics, food wastage and links with health). Two of the clearest conclusions that emerge from the collected papers are that major advances in sustainable food production and availability can be achieved with the concerted application of current technologies (given sufficient political will), and the importance of investing in research sooner rather than later to enable the food system to cope with both known and unknown challenges in the coming decades.

Soil nutrient balances: what use for policy?

Abstract This paper reviews the application of the nutrient budget and balance approach from a range of settings and scales in Africa. The paper asks: can such analyses help in the design of effective policy which supports improved soil fertility management by Africas small-holder farmers? Through the examination of existing studies, the paper highlights some of the difficulties with nutrient budget analyses, including potential problems with a snapshot approach when trying to understand longer term dynamic processes; the danger of extrapolation to wider scales from limited locale-specific data sets; the challenges of understanding diversity, complexity and uncertainty within small-holder farming systems; and the importance of insights into the many socio-economic and institutional factors which influence decision-making at farm level and so mediate the processes of environmental change. The paper concludes by recognising the potential contribution of nutrient budget analyses to the policy process, but suggests caution over uncritical use; particularly the employment of aggregate studies to diagnose generalised problems and suggest blanket solutions. The paper also highlights how nutrient budget analyses can be used as simple devices to encourage debate and dialogue among farmers, technical scientists and policy actors in a participatory process of negotiating interventions or policies for tackling issues of agricultural sustainability in Africa.

Agricultural investment and international land deals: evidence from a multi-country study in Africa

Recent spikes in world food and energy prices have fostered renewed momentum for agricultural investment in lower and middle-income countries. Governments in some food-importing countries are promoting the acquisition of land overseas as a means to ensure long-term national food security. Businesses are recognizing new opportunities for strong returns from international investments in agriculture for food, fuel and other agricultural commodities. Dubbed ‘land grabs’ in the media, land-based investments have kindled much international debate, in which strong positions are taken on the impacts of such investments on environment, rights, sovereignty, livelihoods, development and conflict at local, national and international levels. Depending on how they are structured, agricultural investments may deliver local benefits and include small-scale producers in value chains, or carry environmental and social risks that fall disproportionately on local people. Vigorous public debate in recipient countries, effective screening of proposed investments, including robust environmental and social impact assessments, secure local land and resource rights, local voice in decision-making, skillfully negotiated and regulated contracts and effective policy incentives for business models that favor working with local farmers over large plantations can help make the renewed momentum in agricultural investment work for development.

PASTORAL COMMONS SENSE: LESSONS FROM RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICY, LAW AND PRACTICE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF GRAZING LANDS

ABSTRACT The paper analyses key issues concerning the collective management of grazing lands, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. In the dry belt South of the Sahara, natural resource management systems need to come to terms with an environment characterised by scarce and erratic rainfall, entailing that resources fluctuate considerably in time and space, and that neither the resource base nor the user community are stable and clearly delimited. Herd mobility is the key strategy used by herders to cope with this difficult environment. As with other common pool resources (CPR), recent legislation has moved towards the recognition of mobility as the key strategy for pastoral resource management, although implementation is lagging and bedevilled by conflict and ambiguity among the plethora of institutions involved. Examples of successful and less successful CPR pastoral systems—ranging from the Scottish crofters to Kenyan Masai—are given. The paper describes the importance of common rangelands for the livelihoods of the poor and the major trends in relevant policy and legislation; it analyses a series of successful and unsuccessful rangeland management systems and draws conclusions on the factors affecting the nature and performance of these systems. It discusses key factors affecting the nature and performance of CPR management regimes and the importance of: • establishing secure legal rights for local communities over the grazing land on which they depend; and • creating conditions that enable local communities and their elected representatives to assume their responsibilities and manage these resources in a sustainable and equitable manner.

Agenda for action

Introduction * Need for a Replacement for Africa in Crisis * Homogenizing Complexity * Twenty Years on from Africa in Crisis * Whats Happened to the Crisis since Africa in Crisis was Published? * Arguments Old and New * Signs of Success * Running Out of Time? * How Can Our Book Contribute? * Part I: Human Ecology * Land-based Livelihoods * What are Rural Livelihoods? * Unfolding Livelihoods in West Africa * Two Cases * Fishing Livelihoods: Successful Diversification, or Sinking into Poverty? * Diverse People and Livelihoods * Fisheries as a Growing Livelihood Opportunity * The Attraction of the Fisheries Sector * Effects on Livelihood Security and Sustainability * Coping Strategies at Micro and Macro Levels * Urban Livelihoods * Framing Urban Livelihoods * Making a Living * Maintaining Social Networks and Urban Communities * Mounting Collective Action * The Challenge of HIV/AIDS * HIV/AIDS and its Potentially Devastating Impacts * Positive Anomalies * Avoiding the Trap * Food Security * Food Security: The Definitional Quandary * Vulnerability Discourse, Monitoring Practice and Food Aid * Description of Famine Early Warning Systems in Africa * Critical Assessment of Early Warning Systems in Africa * Recommendations for Best Practice * Part II: Institutional Change * The Global Economic Context *The Promise of Globalization and Achievements * The Failed Promise of Growth * Explaining the Poor Performance: Has Africa Adjusted? * Africa Maladjusted: The Low-growth Path * Legal Frameworks * The Roots of African Poverty and Vulnerability * Can African Governments Use Law to Restructure Dysfunctional Institutions? * How Africans Designed Laws * Legislative Theory and the Use of Law for Institutional Transformation * Gathering the Facts * The Politics of Decentralization * Fetters on Decentralization * Means of Resistance: Powers Transfer and Institutional Choice * National Institutions for Development: The Case of Botswana * Theorizing the Botswana State * Elite Unity, Underdevelopment and State Autonomy * Conscious Leadership and Class Unity: The Foundation of State Capacity * Identity and National Governance * The Colonial State and Legally Inscribed Identities * Post-colonial Dilemmas * Political Identity: A Methodological Consideration * Regional Economic and Political Institutions * The Southern African Development Community (SADC): A Historical Overview * Regional Transformations in the 1990s: Implications for SADC * Institutions for Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking * Human Rights and Conflict Management in Africa: Five Propositions * Enhancing Understanding * Part III: Conclusions * Agenda for Action * What African Civil Society can Do * What African Governments can Do * What Donors and International Organizations can Do * What Non-governmental Organizations can DoAfrican farmers and pastoralists have been meeting their everyday needs in diverse ways for many centuries. While this process has increasingly been recognized since the late colonial period, a major development since the publication of Lloyd Timberlake’s Africa in Crisis (Timberlake, 1985) has been the emergence of support to ‘livelihood security’ and the incorporation of ‘sustainable rural livelihoods’ in the rationales and thinking of government-led projects and the many international development agencies working in Africa. Researchers too have focused renewed attention on how diverse rural societies enhance their welfare and development options in many corners of the continent.

Stephen Devereux, Rachel Sabates-Wheeler and Richard Longhurst (eds.): Seasonality, rural livelihoods and development

This collection of essays is a good read. It covers the implications of seasonality for health, education, poverty, risk management and design of rural development policy. The case studies range from the Peruvian altiplano, through Ethiopia and Malawi to India, Bangladesh and southern China. For the older generation of rural development researchers and practitioners , this book is a great reminder of the insights for development thinking contributed by Robert Chambers, who put seasonality onto the development agenda in the late 70s and energised our field from the 1970s onwards. For all of us, it brings together critical reflections on work in this field over the last 30 years and a sense of how research findings feed both into policy design and practical implementation. The centrality of the seasons for understanding rural livelihoods and vulnerability is one of those things which is so obvious it tends to be forgotten. For Europeans the seasons have been a major element in our culture and way of life – as exemplified in the delightful illustrations found in medieval manuscripts or the Shepherds calendar by John Clare. They contrast the bare austerity of winter landscapes with springs burgeoning life and fertility. In Europe, although most people can protect themselves from the worst effects of winter, seasons remain significant in heightening risk of death amongst the elderly poor, whether from inadequate heating in cold weather or an inability to survive summer heat waves, where figures have recently peaked. In tropical agricultural systems, the cycle of seasons brings marked shifts in patterns of activity, energy and work, job availability, food and crop prices, sickness and vulnerability. The interplay of these factors combines to generate multiple problems and opportunities, illustrating how vital it is to move away from thinking based on averages and to understand the importance of fluctuations and extremes. As this book argues, it is not the seasons as such that push people into destitution but more the effect of their associated risk factors for poorer households and groups, creating huge vulnerability to a downward ratchet in health, assets and ability to make ends meet. A revisit of seasonality from the first major conference held in 1978 highlights the progress that has been made in terms of asking the right questions and redesigning interventions to address seasonal bottlenecks and shortages. Thus, for example, a number of countries – such as Brazil, Ethiopia, Mexico and India-have …