Policies promoting monocultural crops and subsidized energy inputs have increased calorie production, and intermittently helped feed Africa’s poor. There are unintended consequences and temporal tradeoffs, however, of an increasing reliance on a handful of cereal crops. Agrobiodiversity based on sustainability principles is an alternative model that prioritizes a range of ecosystem services, at different scales. Interdisciplinary research conducted over a decade provides insights into the impact of diversity on rural livelihoods, based on smallholder surveys and experimentation within rain-fed farming systems of Malawi and Mali.  

Results/Conclusions

Diversified agriculture performance varied over the short (1 and 2 years) and long-term (decadal). Services of particular interest to limited resource households (e.g., widowed and the very poor) included foraging in semi-wild areas, soil building and provisioning of food during the hungry season. Societal interests that are beginning to be considered by policymakers include soil conservation, preserving semi-wild habitat, and reliable commodity production that does not require expensive investments in energy-intensive inputs. Interdisciplinary research has quantifyed levels and values for many of these services, but those that occur over longer-time scales and that are variable in space may be undervalued. In this case study, participatory action research provided an important means of improving linkages and communication among stakeholders, farmers, researchers, extension advisors and policy makers. The ecosystem services associated with biodiversification of maize-based included enhanced nutrient efficiency and more resilient provision of nutrient-enriched foods for smallholder families. Policy implications are for crop diversification and promotion of short-lived perennial legumes to be privileged over fertilizer inputs, to promote sustainable food production.