Sustainable intensification options for smallholder maize-based farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa

Klaus J. Droppelmann (), Sieglinde S. Snapp () and Stephen R. Waddington ()
Additional contact information
Klaus J. Droppelmann: PICOTEAM
Sieglinde S. Snapp: Michigan State University

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, 2017, vol. 9, issue 1, No 12, 133-150

Abstract: Abstract Appropriate sustainable intensification (SI) of agriculture is required in Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the rising demand for food and protect resources. Agroforestry and green manures, diversification with grain legumes, conservation agriculture and integrated nutrient management with mineral and organic fertilizers are SI options widely promoted for maize-based African smallholder systems. To assess the potential of SI options to contribute to multiple ecosystem services in these systems, we evaluated 17 published multi-year and site studies, using radar charts to systematically measure provisioning services (annualized maize grain and protein yields) and supporting services (vegetative biomass, rain productivity and agronomic efficiency of N fertilizer) among the studies and across technologies. We frequently observed trade-offs amongst provisioning and supporting ecosystem services, especially in rotational systems where the addition of a grain legume increased maize response to fertilizer but reduced annualized maize grain yields. Consistent gains in maize grain yield and vegetative biomass, and protein yield and rain productivity were obtained with the application of N fertilizer across the studies. More efficient use of N fertilizer was associated with legume diversification, particularly intercrop systems, with large incremental yield gains (30–80 kg grain kg−1 N fertilizer) at low fertilizer rates (

Keywords: Ecosystem services; Sustainable agriculture; Crop diversification; Grain legume; Green manure; Agroforestry; Mineral fertilizer; Conservation tillage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-016-0636-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:9:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s12571-016-0636-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ulture/journal/12571

DOI: 10.1007/s12571-016-0636-0

Access Statistics for this article

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food is currently edited by R.N. Strange

More articles in Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food from Springer, The International Society for Plant Pathology
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().