Sub-Saharan Africa’s rainfed agriculture is inherently susceptible to rainfall variability, vulnerable to climate change, and often limited to a single growing season. And the irrigation schemes that do exist overwhelmingly rely on surface water.

Production of sufficient human food, feed, fiber, and fuel to meet the needs of a sharply rising population. Protection of the environment and expansion of the natural resources supply. Sustainment of the economic viability of agriculture systems.

Traditional crops are hardier and more resilient to impacts such as drought and new pests, because their genetic make-up is more varied and better suited to local conditions. In all three cases, farmers understand the value of sustaining a diversity of crops to reduce the risk of crop failure.

How to Improve Farming Productivity

1. Implementation of land reforms. For improving the production, land reforms are the first and predominant point.
2. Interplant.
3. Plant more densely.
4. Plant many crops.
5. Raised beds.
6. Smart water management.
7. Heat Tolerant Varieties.
8. Use nitrogen.

Traditional Agriculture can be defined as a primitive style of farming that involves the intensive use of indigenous knowledge, traditional tools, natural resources, organic fertilizer and cultural beliefs of the farmers. It is noteworthy that it is still used by about 50% of the world population.

Compared to sustainable farming, conventional crops are terribly inefficient at maintaining the integrity of agricultural landscapes. Conventional agriculture is therefore unable meet the demands of the growing populations without consuming a substantial amount of land and non-renewable resources.

Prices tend to be higher for organic than conventional products. The organic food supply is limited as compared to demand. Production costs for organic foods are typically higher because of greater labor input and because farmers don’t produce enough of a single product to lower the overall cost.

Methods of Sustainable Agriculture

• Crop Rotation. Crop rotation is one of the most powerful techniques of sustainable agriculture.
• Permaculture.
• Cover Crops.
• Soil Enrichment.
• Natural Pest Predators.
• Bio intensive Integrated Pest Management.
• Polyculture Farming.
• Agroforestry.

You may wonder why organic farming could be actually cheaper in terms of the cost of growing organic produce. Sure, there is a higher cost of fertilizer, labor, and handling cost, but managing an organic farm is more beneficial and cost-effective for the farmers.

Why Is Factory Farming Not Sustainable? Factory farming is not sustainable because it uses far too much land, water and energy. To keep producing it we need ever more. Cutting down forests and other habitats not only releases CO2 into the atmosphere, but it prevents those felled trees from absorbing more.

They use less fossil fuel, produce fewer greenhouse gases, and often depend on human labor rather than chemicals and energy-intensive technology. Sustainable farms encourage biodiversity, conserve scarce water resources, and build healthy soil through techniques like composting and planting cover crops.

70%

Small farms are also better at conserving the natural resource base than larger farms. For example, in the U.S., small farms preserve 17% of the land as natural forest, compared to only 5% on large farms. What’s more, they devote more than twice as much of their land to soil-improving practices.

Reducing Agricultural Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Reduce agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Sequester Carbon via land use change and forestry. Energy efficiency, biofuels and bioenergy production to reduce farm energy use and displace fossil fuel usage.

In 2019, the median income from farming was $139,016 for households operating commercial farms, and their median total household income was $190,401. Households associated with intermediate farms reported $654 in median farm income and a median total household income of $57,081.

For the same reasons that farmers throughout history have not been able to make money. Their particular product is homogenous across producers, and almost perfectly substitutable with other products. Farmers have essentially no market power. No market power, no profits.