Considerable agreement exists among researchers, development practitioners, and policymakers regarding the goals of sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI). They include: achieving agricultural productivity growth, household food security, and improved rural livelihoods and employment,...

This article explores the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption, with particular reference to a high-yielding, low external input rice production method in Madagascar. We present a simple model of technology adoption by farm households in an environment of incomplete financial and land...

This paper explores the roles of seasonal labor and liquidity constraints, learning, and social conformity factors in explaining the adoption of a high-yielding, low-external input rice production method in Madagascar, called the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). We present a simple,...

African farmers have traditionally pursued shifting cultivation in response to population growth and declining soil fertility. Rural population growth and displacement, due to urban expansion and the gazetting of parks and protected areas, have long encouraged the cultivation of new land by...

To satisfy continued growth in food demand without further degrading already low fertility soils or extensifying onto fragile margins, African farmers must pursue "sustainable agricultural intensification" (SAI). SAI requires adequate use of capital to maintain soil fertility and conserve the...

This book chapter presents evidence and explanation on the midex effects market-oriented policy reforms have had on sustainable agricultural intensification in Africa, focusing in particular on incentives to clear forest for cultivation. Much policy reform has been blind to the net effects on...