Surveying the Evidence on Sustainable Intensification Strategies for Smallholder Agricultural Systems

Abstract

Food demand is projected to increase significantly over the coming decades. Sustainable intensification (SI) is essential to meet this demand. SI is particularly important in smallholder systems, yet to date it remains unclear what the most promising SI strategies are to increase food production and farmer incomes at scale. We review the literature on SI to identify the most promising strategies, as manifest in replicated findings of favorable causal impacts. Adoption of improved cultivars generated the largest, most consistent, positive yield and economic outcomes. Two agroecological practices, push-pull systems and the System of Rice Intensification, also repeatedly led to large positive impacts. These strategies have considerable potential to scale to reach more than 50% of smallholder farmers who plant staple crops. Significant barriers to adoption remain, however, and identifying ways to overcome barriers to scale these successful strategies will be critical to meeting Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 by 2030.