Agroecological Approaches for Enhancing Food-Crop Production

Agroecological approaches for enhancing food-crop production

Professor Jules PrettyAdvances in agroecology, soil management, integrated pest management and integrated nutrient management have the potential to contribute substantially to the needed increases in global production of food crops. Such advances complement efforts to raise crop productivity by focusing on plant breeding. This paper reviews recent evidence from across the world that shows how farming systems can be designed and optimised to provide the best conditions for yield growth. Cases will be drawn from a variety of agroecological and cultural conditions. In all, it will be shown that social capital and farmers’ knowledge are important pre-requisites for wide scale agricultural transformations.