The Ambiguous Effects of Policy Reforms on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Africa: Renewed Threats to Fragile Margins?

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Abstract
To satisfy continued growth in food demand without further degrading already low fertility soils or extensifying onto fragile margins, African farmers must pursue "sustainable agricultural intensification" (SAI). SAI requires adequate use of capital to maintain soil fertility and conserve the land while meeting productivity goals. Nevertheless, many African farmers are either unsustainably intensifying (i.e., mining their soils and degrading the resource base) or extensifying onto fragile margins because they cannot meet needs on existing cropland. These deviations from the SAI path are often due to inappropriate policies that reduce farmers' incentives and capacity to pursue SAI, in particular to economic liberalization measures that removed public support for farming, thus increasing input prices and market risk, without concomitant public investments in institutional or physical infrastructure to induce profitable sustainable intensification by smallholders.