FACASI

Agriculture / Forests / Fisheries

Intensification is both a need and an opportunity for sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. For intensification to occur with minimum negative environmental and social consequences (i.e. sustainable intensification), it is widely recognized that all resources have to be used far more efficiently than is presently the case. Although a lot of emphasis is being placed in current R4D work on increasing the efficiency with which land, water and nutrients are being used, farm power appears as the ‘forgotten resource’. However, farm power in SSA countries is declining due to the collapse of most hire tractor schemes, the decline in number of draught animals and the decline in human labour (e.g.