Towards Multifunctional Agriculture for Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainability

Agriculture operates within complex systems and is multifunctional in its nature. A multifunctional approach to implementing agricultural knowledge, science and technology (AKST) will enhance its impact on hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and livelihoods in an equitable, environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner. Multifunctionality recognizes the inescapable interconnectedness of agriculture’s different roles and functions, i.e., agriculture is a multi-output activity producing not only commodities, but also non commodity outputs such as environmental services, landscape amenities and cultural heritages.