Save and grow

This guide is the first in a series on the practical application of FAO's Save and Grow model of agriculture to specific smallholder crops and farming systems. It comes as cassava production intensifies worldwide, and growers shift from traditional cultivation to monocropping, higher-yielding varieties, and increased use of irrigation and agrochemicals. Intensification carries great risks, including soil degradation and upsurges in pests and diseases. The guide shows how ecosystem-based approaches and practices can help tropical countries to avoid the risks of unsustainable intensification, while realising cassava's potential for producing higher yields, alleviating hunger and rural poverty, and contributing to national economic development.