A viable option to avoid over dependence on fertilizers and pesticides in closing the yield gap in Africa is to ensure agricultural intensification occurs through natural and resource-conserving approaches such as agroforestry, say scientists in a special issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability due to be released in February 2014 to coincide with the 3^rd World Congress on Agroforestry in Delhi, India.

Intensification – growing more on the same amount of land – is seen as key to increasing food production in Africa to meet the needs of a growing population. In many parts of Asia, this has been achieved through the use of greater inputs such as fertilizer, but it has come at a cost – causing soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution which has impacted on food security and farm incomes.

“A long-term solution to intensification in Africa should not purely be based on an imported intensification model but instead consider approaches that can maintain the quality of the available resource base through ensuring nutrient cycling, organic matter build-up, biodiversity improvements and water quality regulation,” says Sammy Carsan, Tree Domestication Scientist with the World Agroforestry Centre and lead author of the article. “All this can be achieved through agroforestry.”

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