Roles of eco-friendly low input technologies in crop production in sub-Saharan Africa

The global population doubled in the past decades and the situation is more serious in sub-Saharan African Countries. This also resulted in increased demand for biofuels, land, water, and increased pressure of prices of agricultural products, land, and water. Regardless of this it has been possible to increase per capita world food production by 24% and 40% by the adoption of green revolution technologies such as high yielding cultivars, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation water. However, these technologies have their own drawbacks, which may be attributed to their adverse effect on human health, environment, and escalating prices of agricultural inputs, especially fertilizer. On the other hand, there are technologies which have been proved to be effective in addressing these problems. As a result, it is demanding to look for these alternative eco-friendly agricultural technologies that can be used along with modern practices to tackle the challenge in a sustainable manner. These eco-friendly technologies may include intercropping, alley-cropping, agroforestry, cover crops, composting, and vermin-composting. Hence, depending on the suitability and availability of the technologies it is possible to address both food security and environmental problems simultaneously by integrating these technologies along with modern techniques such as inorganic fertilizers, irrigation, and improved varieties in a sustainable manner.