The Integrated Approach Programme (IAP) on Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa, supported by the Global Environment Facility, focuses specifically on promoting sustainability and resilience through management of the natural resources – land, water, soils, trees and genetic resources – that underpin food and nutrition security. Agricultural transformation and intensification is a growing priority for all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. While investments in inputs, seeds and markets will result in short-term increases in productivity, lessons from elsewhere in the world suggest that gains will come at the expense of healthy soils, on-farm and landscape agro-biodiversity, and sustained flow of water.

Engaging smallholder farmer groups, private sector entities, governments and scientific institutions at national and regional levels, the IAP is advancing an integrated and holistic approach to environmental management for food security. The approach will facilitate the scaling-up of practices that support greater agricultural productivity and generate global environmental benefits. It will promote the integrated management of natural resources in smallholder agriculture and thereby help smallholders strengthen soil health, improve access to drought-tolerant seeds, adjust planting periods and cropping portfolios, and enhance on-farm agro-biodiversity.