Google Scholar, Bos JF, Smit ABL, Schrder JJ (2013) Is agricultural intensification in The Netherlands running up to its limits? Agroecological intensification strategies aim to integrate ecological principles into management of agricultural systems to improve productivity, efficiency, and farmers' livelihoods. https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess. Tittonell (2014) stresses that this will facilitate the efficient use of resources, functional biodiversity and ecosystem services. (2012) introduced an assessment methodology that considers not just yields, but also the generation of ecosystem services. 2011), could reduce the pressure to which agriculture is subjected. Nonlinear dynamics of soil fertility. Moreover, Kuyper and Struik (2014) and Struik et al. Sustainable intensification is more widely used (see also Tittonell 2014; Petersen and Snapp 2015) and represents, in many cases, a rather generalised category into which most current farming practices can be put so long as sustainability is in some way addressed. All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 8:5361. The agroecological innovations reported here can be grouped under the broad heading of System of Crop Intensi cation (SCI).1 This approach seeks not just to get more output from a given amount of inputs, a long-standing and universal goal, but aims to achieve higher output with less use of or less expenditure on land, labor, capital, and water - all by making modifications in crop management . (1996) and Pretty (1997) first defined sustainable intensification as substantial growth of yields in currently unimproved or degraded areas while at the same time protecting or even regenerating natural resources. Principles of sustainable intensification, 4.3. Based on an analysis of the literature on this controversy, this article examines. 35, 12831295 (2015). 1999), improved crop rotations and applying living and residual mulches to cover the soil (FAO 2011; Matson et al. (1999) reused this term with special reference to animal production as the manipulation of inputs to, and outputs from, livestock production systems aimed at increasing productivity and/or production and/or changing product quality, while maintaining the long-term integrity of the system and its surrounding environment, so as to meet the needs of both present and future generations of humans. Agroecological intensification: Improving the performance of agriculture while minimizing environmental impacts and reducing dependency on external inputs through integration of ecological principles into farm and system management. (5) The notion of agroecological intensification accentuates the system approach and integrates more cultural and social perspectives in its concept. Sustainable Agriculture Through Ecological Intensification 2011), on-farm mechanization (Friedrich et al. This is achieved through knowledge co-creation using farmer research networks (FRNs) that include extension, research, and farmers, and through collaboration between different types of institutions and people in communities of practice. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a leading complement and alternative to synthetic pesticides and a form of sustainable intensification with particular importance for tropical smallholders. In general, regarding keywords and key components of definitions for ecological and sustainable intensification, a strong overlap for most definitions can be found even though the exact wording might differ. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. However, although the sustainable intensification dialogue has been embraced by most international and national research and policy organizations as an aspiration, it has hardly ever been clearly limited to a specific set of principles and practices for its realization. I am pleased to invite colleagues to submit contributions that assess how agroecological intensification strategies impact performance of high- and low-input . GeoJournal 35(3):299305. Apart from the analysis of the academic literature, the authors also performed a Computer-Aided Text Analysis (CATA) of key policy documents searching the terms: Sustainable Intensification, Ecological Intensification and Agroecological Intensification. To conclude, the different definitions for agroecological intensification are mostly derived or taken from definitions of either ecological or sustainable intensification. positive feedback from the reviewers. 2013; Milder et al. (6) Even if some boundaries can be seen, confusion is still predominant in the use of these terms. Agroecological intensification practices build upon the above principles by giving more specific measures to be employed in designing agricultural systems. In this paper, we focus on terms and concepts relevant to efforts to increase productivity while being sustainable or, in other terms, in concepts that advocate intensifying our current production models while reducing their environmental tradeoffs. A Feature An illustration using entrepreneurial orientation. This study focuses on agroecological intensification using organic practices. (2011) suggest improving knowledge of soil and plant sciences and the interactions between roots and micro- and macro-organisms. 2010; CIRAD 2008; Egger 1986; FAO 2009). The Singida Nutrition and Agroecology Project (SNAP) is investigating whether a participatory approach to testing agroecological practices and improved nutrition can lead to enhanced legume production and utilization in rural communities in Singida District, Tanzania. 2011; Tittonell and Giller 2013) and increasing participatory involvement of stakeholders, building on local know-how and knowledge in the introduction of new practices (Caron et al. doi:10.1016/j.eja.2011.02.006, Egger K (1986) Lintensification cologique. 2012; CIRAD 2008; Doltra and Olesen 2013). In 2008, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development defined ecological intensification as agricultural systems designed to use ecological processes and functions for different purposes, such as biological control, invasive species management, and efficient use of resources and ecological services (CIRAD 2008). Partners include researchers from University of Maradi, the National Agricultural Research Institute INRAN, ICRISAT, the French Research Institute CIRAD, and the NGO RAIL, as well as farmers from the MOORIBEN farmer federation which is also based in Niger. Agron. The exercise showed that agroecological intensification of land use could be a plausible approach to addressing poor soil fertility and low crop yields with resultant enhanced livelihoods. Main issues / topics addressed (for example: ) School of agroecology (if any): 1998). Soil conservation (FAO 2011; McCune et al. those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). Equally, improving other elements of the food system, such as reducing food losses and food waste (Gustavsson et al. Agroecological intensification is a relatively new term in the discourse of agricultural intensification. Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.02.002, Phalan B, Onial M, Balmford A, Green RE (2011) Reconciling food production and biodiversity conservation: land sharing and land sparing compared. Agroecological intensification (AEI) integrates ecological principles and biodiversity management into farming systems with the aims of increasing farm productivity, reducing dependency on external inputs, and sustaining or enhancing ecosystem services. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 8:7179. More about this discussion and debate can be found in the studies of Garnett and Godfray (2012), Kuyper and Struik (2014) and Tittonell (2014). Science 277(5325):504509. CIRAD (2008) targets not only the interactions between biotic and abiotic factors (i.e. methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. In the last decade, sustainable intensification has gained worldwide recognition in many international policy, education and research organizations. The System of Crop Intensification: Agroecological Innovations for Im-proving Agricultural Production, Food Security, and Resilience to Climate Change. Sustain. Conservation (LAE) et amlioration des sols tropicaux par les systmes agro-sylvo-pastoraux. Accessed 2 Oct 2013, Darkoh MBK (2003) Regional perspectives on agriculture and biodiversity in the drylands of Africa. In general, the term is much less frequently used in scientific publications than sustainable intensification and ecological intensification (Fig. The growing importance of agroecology in the past decades and, in particular, since the 2000s (Gliessman 2007; Wezel and Soldat 2009; Wezel et al. The most common practices that appeared with sustainable intensification can be summarized as follows: Conservation tillage (McCune et al. This would allow for an improved understanding of the various concepts, their commonalities and differences. The blurred boundaries of ecological, sustainable, and agroecological there is high potential to increase crop productivity in Africa (Tittonell and Giller 2013). Ecological intensification of agriculture sustainable by nature Eur J Agron 44:109123. This paper documents the origin and conceptual ambiguity of the terms Sustainable, Ecological and Agroecological Intensification. Trade-offs between agroecological approaches and yield are . http://grisp.irri.org/theme-3. interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. Agroecological practices are part of the solution to sustainably intensify annual and perennial cropping systems. Individual projects focus on cereal and legume seed production, biological pest control, systems diversification and soil fertility enhancement via legume and crop-tree-livestock integration, use of locally available resources as fertilizer (including sanitized human urine and more recently, also solid human waste), and processing and marketing of nutritious products derived from the primary harvest. (2013) into sustainable intensification. A Discussion from a Metabolic Point of View by Manuel Gonzlez de Molina * and Gloria I. Guzmn Casado Agroecosystems History Lab, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Seville, Spain * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. In the same year, the term was again used in a report produced for environmental assessment and management of coastal resources (Burbridge and Maragos 1985). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Google Scholar, Foley JA, DeFries R, Asner GP, Barford C, Bonan G, Carpenter SR, Chapin FT, Coe MT, Daily GC, Gibbs HK, Helkowski JH, Holloway T, Howard EA, Kucharik CJ, Monfreda C, Patz JA, Prentice IC, Ramankutty N, Snyder PK (2005) Global consequences of land use. The second criticism concerns that intensification of agriculture focuses almost exclusively on increasing food production as the only possible answer to existing challenges. Food Policy 27(3):285300. These well-crafted videos are based on participatory research oriented towards farmers priorities, and feature men and women farmers sharing their expertise and innovations in their own languages. Ochola et al. Dobermann and Nelson (2013) define the following principles: increased productivity and profitability, enhanced use of local resources, maximized returns from external inputs, improved stability and diversity of yields, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, enhanced ecological resilience, and environmental service provision. In all other instances where agroecological intensification is defined and principles are provided, these are based on citations of other authors which used them for describing ecological or sustainable intensification principles (e.g. 2013; Milder et al. Systems of agroecological intensification are being assessed by rigorous comparisons to conventional farming systems (Karamura et al. Frontiers | Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification doi:10.1007/BF01834701, Reardon T, Clay D, Kangasniemi J (1998) Sustainable intensification in the highland tropics: Rwandan farmers' investments in land conservation and soil fertility. Nevertheless, some differences exist. Note: The keywords are summarized from a broad diversity of publications and might thus not always completely reflect the content of one specific publication on one of the intensification concepts. (2014) see in the co-existence of the terms ecological and sustainable intensification that similar words and shared language are used, but the discourse using the term can show very different worldviews. 2011). (2010) and Haussmann (2011) link their definition to that of CIRAD (2008, 2013), and Dobermann and Nelson (2013) link their definition to Cassman (1999) with all original publications using the term ecological intensification. Few additional more specific practices are mentioned by other authors. Each definition includes different concepts of intensification as well as what constitutes intensification through agroecological principles. To help create the conditions needed for this new generation, the CRFS has made grants to support several agroecology hubs two of which are based at universities in the East and Southern Africa CoP (ESAf): the LUANAR AE Hub in Malawi, and the Sokoine AE Hub in Tanzania. 2010; CCRP 2013), proponents of sustainable or ecological intensification do not generally include these aspects as central to their concepts. Historical use and definitions of agroecological intensification, 5.2. 2010; Dobermann and Nelson 2013; Haussmann 2011; Karamura et al. The first is the insertion of the social and cultural perspectives into the definition of the principles of agroecological intensification (CCRP 2013). Within the past 4 years, you have held joint grants, published or collaborated with any of the authors of the selected paper. doi:10.3763/ijas.2010.0583, Raintree JB, Warner K (1986) Agroforestry pathways for the intensification of shifting cultivation. An analysis of the sustainable intensification of agriculture. Integrated Pest Management for Sustainable Intensification of - MDPI Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for 2013) which can be helpful in providing an evidence base for their strengths, and criteria for success. Intensification efforts have focused on the growth of the planted area, but also on the increase of the orchards density and the implementation of irrigation systems. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly Principles of agroecological intensification, 5.3. 2013). doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2014.06.002, Vanlauwe B, Blomme G, van Asten P (2013a) Agro-ecological intensification of agricultural farming systems in the East and Central African Highlands. Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Ruben and Lee (2000) defined sustainable intensification from an agricultural economics standpoint with the simultaneous increase in returns to land and labour (in the short run) and the maintenance of soil nutrient balances (in the long run). The external costs of pesticides are $4-$19 (3-15) per kg of active . Intercropping in Rice Farming under the System of Rice Intensification We are very grateful to Barbara Gemmill-Herren and Benjamin E. Graeub from the FAO, Rome, Italy, for their help in preparing this paper and comments and corrections on the manuscript. 1996-2023 MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) unless otherwise stated. Agron Sustain Dev 34(1):120. However, despite its wider use, it remains imprecisely defined. A specific analysis was carried out on references from peer-reviewed scientific literature. However, for the qualitative analysis on definitions, practices and principles, only a reduced number of papers could be used as the majority of papers did not provide clear information on at least one of these three criteria. Agroecological intensification: Can organic conversion improve the Accessed 2 Oct 2013, Altieri MA, Toledo VM (2011) The agroecological revolution in Latin America: rescuing nature, ensuring food sovereignty and empowering peasants. New project: ''Fostering an agroecological intensification to improve In general, we see a historical evolution for the definitions on ecological intensification gradually integrating new aspects, e.g. www.cirad.fr/en/content/download/970/31343/version/6/file/CIRAD_Strategie_GB_web.pdf. In general, the key components in definitions for ecological intensification appear always with different authors, indicating a larger agreement among authors. These potentials are not mobilized by chemical-dependent practices that create hazards for the environment and human health. Accessed 23 Sept 2014, CIRAD (Centre de coopration internationale en recherche agronomique pour le dveloppement) (2008) CIRAD Strategic Vision 20082012. 2005; Royal Society London 2009) (Fig. 2011; Bommarco et al. Although ecological intensification comprehends some of the fundamentals of systems thinking by integrating the notions of ecosystems, it is sometimes not clearly stated as a guiding principle by just focussing on implementing certain plot-scale practices for ecological intensification. Agron Sustain Dev 29(4):503515. In the same context, expanding agricultural land is only possible in a limited manner as farming is already putting pressure on natural areas and is an important factor in deforestation resulting in losses of biodiversity and increases in greenhouse gases emissions (Foley et al. In addition, the historical analysis of the first appearance of the terms and the evolution of the definitions used are also new. Food Climate Research Network and the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, University of Oxford, UK, Garnett T, Appleby MC, Balmford A, Bateman IJ, Benton TG, Bloomer P, Burlingame B, Dawkins M, Dolan L, Fraser D, Herrero M, Hoffmann I, Smith P, Thornton PK, Toulmin C, Vermeulen SJ, Godfray HCJ (2013) Sustainable intensification in agriculture: premises and policies. Building on the review of scientific literature, a review of relevant policy documents was also carried out. (2012) and Tittonell and Giller (2013) suggest that ecological intensification should manage ecosystem services in production systems. Beyond the agroecological and sustainable agricultural intensification As we aspire for globally resilient food systems, we start with the principles of Agroecology as our guide. future research directions and describes possible research applications. This search was amended by searching the FAOLEX database, a comprehensive and up-to-date legislative database, one of the world's largest electronic collection of national laws and regulations on food, agriculture and renewable natural resources (FAO 2014). CCRP (2013) provides a list of six characteristics of agroecological intensification: (i) optimizes local and global knowledge to improve efficiency and effectiveness of crop, soil and pest management; (ii) focuses on soil health and fertility and avoids pre- and post-harvest losses; (iii) is flexible and responsive to local conditions, including farmers access to inputs and markets; (iv) requires deep and evolving understanding of biophysical, socio-economic, cultural, gender and other contexts, (v) reduces risk and increases productivity through resilience and adaptation and (vi) requires cross-sector and multilateral collaboration. Achieving sustainability thus requires a strong effort to better understand agroecosystems and the role of scientists working with farmers is of primary importance (CIRAD 2008; Dor et al. Because options must be adapted to farmers' heterogeneous and dynamic contexts, successful AEI will require that specifics be optimized locally. Milder et al. 2011; Reardon et al. When a debate is taking place with undefined terms, there is a high chance that the parties are referring to similar terms without understanding or acknowledging the difference in meanings they may each hold (Garnett and Godfray 2012). To have more details about their use in definitions, we summarize this in Table1 showing the key components of text used by different authors in their definitions. CRFS | Agroecological intensification - Drylands Acta Horticult (ISHS) 986:109126, KEPAS (Kelompok Penelitian Agro-ekosistem - Research Group on Agro-ecosystems) (ed) (1985) Tidal swamp agro-ecosystems of southern Kalimantan. Moreover, objectives to change human diets, reduce food wastes (Bos et al. Lastly, some authors have integrated the notion of ecosystem services in their definition. It represents a cluster of six CRFS-funded projects, namely Sahel-IPM, Networking-for-Seed, Cowpea Square, Productivity of Womens Fields, Cereal-Legume Processing, and CATI-Gao. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
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