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Is production intensification likely to make farm households food-adequate? A simple food availability analysis across smallholder farming systems from East and West Africa

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Abstract

Despite considerable development investment, food insecurity remains prevalent throughout East and West Africa. The concept of ‘sustainable intensification’ of agricultural production has been promoted as a means to meet growing food needs in these regions. However, inadequate attention has been given to assessing whether benefits from intensification would be realized by farm households considering highly diverse resource endowments, household and farm characteristics, and agroecological contexts. In this study, we apply a simple energy-based index of food availability to 1800 households from research sites in 7 countries in East and West Africa to assess the food availability status of each of these households and to quantify the contribution of different on- and off-farm activities to food availability. We estimate the effects of two production intensification strategies on food availability: increased cereal crop production from crop-based options, and increased production of key livestock products from livestock-based options. These two options are contrasted with a third strategy: increased off-farm income for each household from broader socioeconomic-based options. Using sensitivity analysis, each strategy is tested against baseline values via incremental production increases. Baseline results exhibit considerable diversity within and across sites in household food availability status and livelihood strategies. Interventions represented in the crop and livestock options may primarily benefit food-adequate and marginally food-inadequate households, and have little impact on the most food-inadequate households. The analysis questions what production intensification can realistically achieve for East and West African smallholders, and how intensification strategies must be augmented with transformational strategies to reach the poorest households.

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Acknowledgements

This research was conducted with the support of the CGIAR Research Programs on Integrated Systems in the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Data used for this study were collected from CCAFS study sites in East and West Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), PO Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    R. S. Ritzema, R. Frelat, S. Douxchamps, S. Silvestri, N. Teufel & M. T. van Wijk

  2. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Km. 45, Carretera México-Veracruz El Batán, Texcoco, CP 56237, Edo. de México, Mexico

    R. Frelat & S. López-Ridaura

  3. Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science, University of Hamburg, Grosse Elbstrasse 133, 22767, Hamburg, Germany

    R. Frelat

  4. Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), 9, Muthaiga - Limuru Road, PO Box 633-00621, Nairobi, Kenya

    S. Silvestri

  5. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), C/O World Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    M. C. Rufino

  6. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    M. C. Rufino

  7. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia

    M. Herrero

  8. Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    K. E. Giller

  9. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Tropical Forages Program, PO Box 823-00621, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    B. K. Paul

  10. Wageningen University and Research (WUR), Farming Systems Ecology, Droevendaalsesteeg 8, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    B. K. Paul

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  1. R. S. Ritzema
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  2. R. Frelat
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  3. S. Douxchamps
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  9. N. Teufel
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  11. M. T. van Wijk
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Correspondence to R. S. Ritzema.

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Ritzema, R.S., Frelat, R., Douxchamps, S. et al. Is production intensification likely to make farm households food-adequate? A simple food availability analysis across smallholder farming systems from East and West Africa. Food Sec. 9, 115–131 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-016-0638-y

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