Socially Modified Organisms in Multifunctional Agriculture – Addressing the Needs of Smallholder Farmers in Africa

Author: Prof Roger R B Leakey

To address on-going issues of hunger, malnutrition, poverty and land degradation in Africa, smallholder farmers are developing Socially Modified Crops as part of a 3-step approach to a multifunctional farming system that impact positively on the social, economic and environmental constraints to farm productivity responsible for the gap between potential and actual yield. Furthermore, these new crops also rehabilitate, diversify and intensify the agroecosystem, diversify local diets and generate income from trade and new value-adding business opportunities.