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Agriculture & the Environment: Overview

EPAR TECHNICAL REPORT #254

Thu, 03/20/2014

AUTHORS: Travis Reynolds, Stephen Waddington, Alexander Chew, Zoë True, C. Leigh Anderson, Alison Cullen, Mary Kay Gugerty

ABSTRACT: 

This overview introduces a series of EPAR briefs in the Agriculture-Environment Series that examine crop-environment interactions for a range of crops in smallholder food production systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA). The briefs cover the following important food crops in those regions; rice (#208), maize (#218), sorghum/millets (#213), sweet potato/yam (#225), and cassava (#228).

Drawing on the academic literature and the field expertise of crop scientists, these briefs highlight crop-environment interactions at three stages of the crop value chain: pre-production (e.g., land clearing and tilling), production (such as water, nutrient and other input use), and post-production (e.g., waste disposal and crop storage). At each stage we emphasize environmental constraints on crop yields (including poor soils, water scarcity, crop pests) and impacts of crop production on the environment (such as soil erosion, water depletion and pest resistance). We then highlight best practices from the literature and from expert experience for minimizing negative environmental impacts in smallholder crop production systems.

This overview (along with the accompanying detailed crop briefs) seeks to provide a framework for stimulating across-crop discussions and informed debates on the full range of crop-environment interactions in agricultural development initiatives.

paper based on this research series was published in Food Security in August 2015.

TYPE OF RESEARCH: Literature Review

RESEARCH TOPIC CATEGORY: Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods; Agricultural Productivity, Yield, & Constraints; Environment & Climate Change

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS: South Asia Region and Selected Countries; Sub-Saharan Africa

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