Identifying changes in agricultural practices and policy interventions for sustainable intensification of farm systems in southern Mali

Achieving sustainable development goals for smallholder rural populations within the next eleven years is challenging: besides environmental and climate pressures, rising rural population and unfavorable institutional arrangements diminish the room to manoeuvre within the current system’s settings. New farming practices and progressive policies to trigger and support drastic changes are needed. A large array of innovative farming practices have been developed across sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Snapp et al., 2010). Our objective was to grasp the scale of the challenge: what is the potential of changes in farm practices to improve farming sustainability in southern Mali, a region that is representative for land-scarce sub-Saharan Africa?Which policies are needed to support sustainable development?