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AGP - Sustainable Crop Production Intensification
 

What is Sustainable Crop Production Intensification?

©FAO/Alessandra Benedetti

The need to feed a growing population is a constant pressure on crop production, as is coping with an increasingly degraded environment and uncertainties resulting from climate change - and the need to adapt farming systems to these. Sustainable crop production intensification provides opportunities for optimizing crop production per unit area, taking into consideration the range of sustainability aspects including potential and/or real social, political, economic and environmental impacts. Recent trends would indicate that the incorporation of scientific principles of ecosystem management into farming practices can enhance crop production (yield). With a particular focus on environmental sustainability through an ecosystem approach, sustainable crop production intensification aims to maximize options for crop production intensification through the management of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

New Compendium for SCPI on-line now
This website contains information on a number of approaches and practices that FAO works on and that have proven to be successful in increasing agricultural productivity by harnessing biological processes. In the section on Tools and Guidelines, information is available on: what these approaches entail and how these can be practiced in the field; the latest case studies and publications; and relevant links. Special focus is given to sustainable rice systems and production systems that integrate crops with livestock. Other topics in the compendium include capacity building through Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and how policies can contribute to sustainable crop production intensification.

AGPME is a multidisciplinary team committed to provide services to member countries. Services focus on enhancing ecological, social and economic resilience of agricultural systems for the food security  of current and future generations.
We work on the sustainable intensification of agricultural systems by promoting management practices built on natural ecosystem’s processes and the enhancement of knowledge, in order to restore systems and increase efficiencies of resource use (natural/human/economic). We integrate different disciplines (weed management, agronomy, plant nutrition, mechanization, ecology, social science, IPM, climate change, pollination and biodiversity management, crop/livestock interactions) and we work in a variety of ecological zones (dry and humid savannah, mountains, drylands and rangelands, humid tropics, temperate) in over 80 countries.
Our focus is on farmers and policy makers to help providing increased awareness of the diversity of choices for adapting practices and technologies, through encouraging partnership and capacity building at multiple levels.
We contribute by collecting, reviewing and sharing information; supporting networks at national, regional and global level; developing capacity; integrating of scientific, traditional, and local knowledge; mainstreaming use and enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem services into agricultural policies as well as at the field level; monitoring trends and developing databases, tools and policy guidelines.

Core Themes