Linking agricultural biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment in Africa

A special issue of Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment  (Vol. 157)  dedicated to agricultural biodiversity & Africa was published in August 2012, with special guest editors from Bioversity International and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa  [2] (FARA). It includes an introduction co-authored by two Bioversity International scientists and the Executive Director of FARA.

Placed within the context of the scientific literature on agricultural biodiversity, its contribution to sustainable production and its importance in Africa, this special issue starts off with background articles which reviewed major agroecosystems in Africa, descriptions of their biodiversity resources, management, limitations and concerns.

“Rarely is one able to access in a single issue of a respected peer review journal the wealth of scientific evidence reported by African scientists and their partners on the high quality research conducted on the continent’s legendary agricultural biodiversity resources,” said Joseph JoJo Baidu-Forson  [3], Bioversity International Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa and one of the contributors to the special issue.

The follow-up scientific papers cover major components of biodiversity for agriculture namely soil biota, species diversity and germplasm diversity. The soil biota papers report research and findings on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere, termite and bacterial communities and evidence on the influence of their diversity on crop production.The crop species diversity papers provide evidence on the role of the diversity in influencing soil microbial properties as well as managing pest and diseases in crop production.

Scientific evidence on the role and interactions of germplasm diversity and provenance with the environment are also presented.

• Introduction to special issue on agricultural biodiversity, ecosystems and environment linkages in Africa  [4]. Joseph Jojo Baidu-Forson, Toby Hodgkin, Monty Jones
• Special Issue: Agriculture, Ecosystems and the Environment, Volume 157   [5]

Note: Abstract reproduced by kind permission. The article was published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 157, Joseph Jojo Baidu-Forson, Toby Hodgkin, Monty Jones, Introduction to special issue on agricultural biodiversity, ecosystems and environment linkages in Africa, Pages 1-4, Copyright Elsevier (2012).