Ways forward : Strategies for effective science, investments and policies for African farming and food systems

Key messages The African farming system framework should be used to guide regional and national policy makers, science leaders and agricultural investment plans, as well as development partners. Farming systems vary in the institutional, technological, market and social capital requirements to improve household food and nutrition security, and national and regional food systems. Development of future food and nutrition security strategies should be based on farming systems analyses and deploy decentralized systems and participatory methods to ensure consistency with farming system needs. The core elements of an effective food and nutrition security strategy are: policy and institutional environments which mainstream farming systems and create appropriate incentives for farmers and agribusiness to implement sustainable intensification and diversification in the context of rural transformation access to markets, information and other agricultural services as these play a very important role in reducing productivity gaps, and improving household food and nutrition security. Therefore, support for agricultural service providers and value chains should be a priority investment, suitably targeted by farming system increased investment in innovation systems and research, incorporating transdisciplinary systems analysis with a particular focus on reducing productivity gaps and boosting novel on-farm diversification inclusive development that strengthens human and social capital in suitable ways for each farming system, and makes full use of digital options access to productive resources, which will require restoring degraded land, sustainable use of the extensive groundwater reserves, and functional usufruct rights to cultivated land and common grazing lands sustainable and resilient intensification and diversification with suitable climate-smart practices to improve food and nutrition security in all farming systems despite climatic variability and market volatility.