A very thoughtful blog post, Andrew. If you haven't seen it already, you might be interested in the latest report from the Montpellier Panel of experts called "Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture" viewable at the link below.
It outlines three main pathways for smallholder-centred intensification: 1) ecological 2) genetic and 3) socio-economic. It also touches on many of the points you make here, for instance, agriculture's potential to build natural capital (rather than simply focusing on reducing its negative impacts).
A very thoughtful blog post, Andrew. If you haven't seen it already, you might be interested in the latest report from the Montpellier Panel of experts called "Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture" viewable at the link below.
It outlines three main pathways for smallholder-centred intensification: 1) ecological 2) genetic and 3) socio-economic. It also touches on many of the points you make here, for instance, agriculture's potential to build natural capital (rather than simply focusing on reducing its negative impacts).
https://www3.imperial.ac.uk/africanagriculturaldevelopment/themontpellier...