The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) at Kansas State University is serving as one of the lead organizers for the 2017 Sustainable Intensification Conference: Biodiversity and ecological engineering for sustainable intensification of agriculture. This conference brings together international leaders to discuss sustainable solutions to global food security challenges.
The meeting will take place April 24-26 at the Hotel Ngor Diarama, Dakar, Senegal, under a partnership between SIIL, laboratories IESOL (Intensification Ecologique des Sols Cultivés en Afrique de l’Ouest) and LAPSE (LMI Adaptation des Plantes et microorganismes associés aux Stress Environnementaux), and IAVAO (Innovation et Amélioration Variétale en Afrique de l’Ouest).
Conference attendees are in-country and international researchers, innovation and technology dissemination entities, and donor community representatives who work in sustainable intensification in West Africa. These participants will share their SI research activities in West Africa and build collaborations with the national agricultural research service, donor community researchers, and extension services.The meeting will present current sustainable intensification approaches and research activities that have the potential to improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods in rural communities while minimizing negative social and environmental effects of intensifying crop production. The conference will feature 11 invited speakers on cereals, legumes, biodiversity, agroforestry, and sustainable intensification systems. A variety of countries will be represented including Senegal, Niger, Mali, France, and the United States. Attendees will also participate in a sustainable intensification roundtable discussing how best to communicate with smallholder farmers and to integrate research findings and best practices relevant to their communities.
The overall goal of this meeting is to foster collaborations between existing West African SI efforts and encourage the dissemination of proven SI practices to smallholder farmers. For more information visit the conference website.
