April 25, 2017
Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab Leads West Africa Conference
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification at Kansas State University is a co-host of an upcoming international conference to discuss current approaches and research regarding sustainable solutions to global food security challenges.
The 2017 Sustainable Intensification Conference will be held in Dakar, Senegal April 24-26 and will draw participants from Senegal, Niger, Mali, France and the United States. The conference is titled, ‘Biodiversity and ecological engineering for sustainable intensification of agriculture.’
Sustainable intensification is a term used to describe methods to improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods in rural communities while minimizing negative social and environmental effects of intensifying crop production.
Representatives of the Feed the Future lab have helped to plan the meeting in conjunction with three international partners. Those attending the meeting are researchers, innovation and technology dissemination entities, and donor community representatives who work in sustainable intensification in West Africa.
Vara Prasad, director of the lab, said that participants will be sharing their sustainable intensification research activities in West Africa, and building collaborations with the national agricultural research service, donor community researchers, and Extension services.
The conference will feature 11 invited speakers on cereals, legumes, biodiversity, agroforestry, and sustainable intensification systems; and a roundtable discussion on how best to communicate with smallholder farmers and to integrate research findings and best practices relevant to their communities.
Prasad said he hopes the meeting will help to foster collaboration between current sustainable intensification efforts in West Africa and encourage the spread of proven practices to smallholder farmers.
For more information, visit the conference website.