The potential of sustainable agricultural intensification, defined in this volume as ‘producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts and at the same time increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental services’, is illustrated by case studies from 20 sub-Saharan African countries covering food products as varied as tef, cassava, sweet potatoes, goats and fish and a diversity of agricultural processes, including agroforestry, soil and water conservation, integrated pest management and aquaculture. The excellent introductory essay by the three editors emphasises the importance of both social and technical factors, including the importance of recognising farmers’ knowledge and the inclusion of farmers as partners in technology development and participatory extension.

The vision of the authors is much broader than the run of the mill food production volume. For example, attention is paid to the small patches of land (which feminist geographer, Dianne Rocheleau, first termed the ‘places in between,’ often utilised by women) that have potential for a variety of uses. Likewise, article ‘Unsteady Progress’ by Payne et al. demonstrates the problems of top-down, short-term research by international scientists who do not involve local expertise.

There is much to learn from the 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes addressed in this book. Unfortunately, the lack of an index makes its content less accessible than it should be.