Fighting the Population/Agriculture/Environment Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa

Over the past thirty years, most of Sub-Saharan Africa has seen rapid population growth, poor agricultural performance, and increasing environmental degradation. Why do these problems seem so intractable? Are they connected? Do they reinforce each other? If so, what are the critical links? This book tests the hypothesis that these phenomena are strongly interrelated. The finding - that this nexus is very much at work in Sub-Saharan Africa - tells us that the design of development efforts must come to reflect this reality. Key links are found in traditional crop and livestock production methods, land tenure systems, women's responsibilities, traditional family planning mechanisms, and methods of forest resource utilization. Traditional systems and practices, well suited to people's survival needs when population densities were low, were able to evolve in response to slow population growth. But with the acceleration of population growth in the 1950's, traditional ways came under increasing strain resulting in the triad of problems addressed here. Solutions are complex. Effective responses have not been forthcoming from international and donor communities, except on a very limited scale in a few places. This study assesses succesful and failed interventions. With that base it recommends concrete and implementable strategies to intensify agriculture, increase demand for smaller families, reform land tenure practices, conserve the environment, and address the problems of women.