Sustainable intensification in jeopardy: Transdisciplinary evidence from Malawi

cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and advanced research instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationMwAPATA Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationMichigan State Universityen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Alabamaen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Centeren
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Developmenten
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Africa
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155758en
cg.identifier.iitathemeNATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENTen
cg.identifier.iitathemePLANT PRODUCTION & HEALTHen
cg.identifier.iitathemeSOCIAL SCIENCE & AGRICUSINESSen
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn0048-9697en
cg.journalScience of the Total Environmenten
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.iitaAGRONOMYen
cg.subject.iitaFARMING SYSTEMSen
cg.subject.iitaGRAIN LEGUMESen
cg.subject.iitaINTEGRATED SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENTen
cg.subject.iitaNATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENTen
cg.subject.impactAreaNutrition, health and food security
cg.subject.sdgSDG 1 - No povertyen
cg.subject.sdgSDG 2 - Zero hungeren
cg.volume837en
dc.contributor.authorBurke, William J.en
dc.contributor.authorSnapp, Sieglinde S.en
dc.contributor.authorPeter, Brad G.en
dc.contributor.authorJayne, Thom S.en
dc.date.accessioned2022-11-15T18:30:20Zen
dc.date.available2022-11-15T18:30:20Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/125462
dc.titleSustainable intensification in jeopardy: Transdisciplinary evidence from Malawien
dcterms.abstractIn Africa, achieving sustainable agricultural intensification - increasing agricultural output without deleterious environmental impacts or converting more land for cultivation - will depend greatly on the actions of smallholder farmers and the policies that influence them. Whatever the future holds, the vast majority of farmers right now are small. Using multiple lines of evidence across disciplines, we examine trends in productivity of land and fertilizers in Malawi. Unfortunately, our effort uncovers disturbing trends that indicate intensification and sustainability are at risk. Two time-series datasets of satellite-based vegetative indices show a generally flat but highly variable trend in the productivity of agricultural land with epochs of steep decline. This is notably despite substantial (and successful) government effort to promote fertilizer use. We also compile evidence from several studies over three decades that use field-level data from farmers and suggest substantial declining maize yield response to fertilizer over time. These trends are consistent with soil degradation, the disappearance of fallow land and minimal investment in rehabilitation practices in densely populated areas, putting agricultural productivity in jeopardy. These signs of the harmful impacts that narrow approaches to productivity improvement may be having in Malawi are an early warning sign to policy makers in Malawi and around the continent that a more holistic and nuanced strategy is necessary for sustainable intensification in agriculture.en
dcterms.accessRightsLimited Access
dcterms.audienceScientistsen
dcterms.bibliographicCitationBurke, W., Snapp, S., Peter, B., and Jayne, T. 2022. Sustainable intensification in jeopardy: Transdisciplinary evidence from Malawi. Science of the Total Environment 837: 155758en
dcterms.issued2022-09en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserved
dcterms.publisherElsevieren
dcterms.relationhttps://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/319866en
dcterms.subjectintensificationen
dcterms.subjectsustainable agricultureen
dcterms.subjectfertilizersen
dcterms.subjectpollutionen
dcterms.subjectenvironmental engineeringen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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