Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Tripling crop yields in tropical Africa

Nature Geoscience volume 3, pages 299–300 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Between 1960 and 2000, Asian and Latin American food production tripled, thanks to the use of high-yielding varieties of crops. Africa can follow suit, but only if depletion of soil nutrients is addressed.

Nearly one sixth of the global population is malnourished. The problem is particularly acute in tropical Africa, where constant or recurrent food shortages affect over 30% of the population — over 260 million people. Low levels of agricultural productivity are a key cause of hunger in this part of the world. Decades of farming without adequate fertilizer and manure have stripped the soils of the vital nutrients needed to support plant growth. Replenishing soil fertility, by using mineral and organic fertilizers, is therefore the primary biophysical requirement for increasing food production in tropical Africa. Many studies have shown that, once this fundamental deficiency has been addressed, the road to food security is open.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Maize field near Zomba, Malawi, likely to reach three tons per hectare.

THE EARTH INSTITUTE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

References

  1. Special Panel on Impact Assessment Contributions Made by the CGIAR and its Partners to Agricultural Development in Sub Saharan Africa (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, 2001).

  2. http://www.faostat.org

  3. DeWit, C. T. in Proc. Wageningen Agricultural University Conference 66–70 (Wageningen Univ. Press, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Quiñones, M. A., Borlaug, N. E. & Dowswell, C. R. in Replenishing Soil Fertility in Africa Vol. 51 (eds Buresh, R. J., Sanchez, P. A. & Calhoun, F.) 81–96 (SSSA Special Publication, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Buresh, R. J., Sanchez, P. A. & Calhoun, F. (eds) Replenishing Soil Fertility in Africa Vol. 51 (SSSA Special Publication, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Sanchez, P. A. et al. in Replenishing Soil Fertility in Africa Vol. 51 (eds Buresh, R. J., Sanchez, P. A. & Calhoun, F.) 1–46 (SSSA Special Publication, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sanchez, P. A. Science 295, 2019–2020 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. UN Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger Halving Hunger: It Can Be Done 245 (Earthscan, 2005).

  9. Sanchez, P. A. & Swaminathan, M. S. Science 307, 357–359 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Annan, K. in Proc. 2004 High-level Seminar Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (July, 2004); available via http://go.nature.com/ubLCJy.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sanchez, P. A. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 16775–16780 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Nziguheba, G. et al. Adv. Agron. (in the press).

  13. Sanchez, P. A., Denning, G. L. & Nziguheba, G. Food Security 1, 37–44 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Denning, G. L. et al. PLoS Biol. 7, 2–10 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. G8 to commit $20bn for food security. Financial Times (10 July, 2009); available via http://go.nature.com/n3ZKMz.

  16. Conway, G. The Doubly Green Revolution (Penguin, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Buresh, R. J. & Cooper, P. J. M. (eds) Agroforestry Systems Vol. 47, (1999).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kiptot, E., Hebinck, P., Franzel, S. & Richards, P. Agr. Syst. 94, 509–519 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sanchez, P. A. et al. Science 325, 680–681 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rockström, J. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 358, 1997–2009 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pedro A. Sánchez is at The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Lamont Campus, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, New York 10964, USA. psanchez@ei.columbia.edu,

    Pedro A. Sánchez

Authors
  1. Pedro A. Sánchez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sánchez, P. Tripling crop yields in tropical Africa. Nature Geosci 3, 299–300 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo853

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo853

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing