Integrated crop management for smallholder farmers in Africa with special reference to coffee in Malawi

Integrated crop management (ICM) goes beyond integrated pest management (IPM) in taking a more holistic approach that incorporates crop protection activities as an aspect of crop husbandry and as part of the overall farm management plan. This encourages farmers to consider the pest management benefits of sound crop husbandry and soil nutrient management, so that the use of commercial pesticides is a last resort, but when their use is necessary it is fully integrated with cultural practices. Viewed in this way, ICM has much to offer agriculture in Africa, which is still largely based on smallholdings. However, the ICM concept as it is applied in developed countries will require careful adaptation to the needs of smallholder agriculture in the developing world. The most significant difference between the two levels of agrarian development is that in Western Europe and to some extent North America, food production is in surplus, whereas in Africa the need is still to maximise food production per hectare. Environmental concerns cannot therefore be a central component of an ICM system that will be acceptable to an African smallholder. The first requirement if ICM is to be adopted in Africa is that it should deliver yield increases and also that the crop production increases are sustainable. Practices that pollute the environment or deplete the resource base are not ICM‐compatible. Smallholder coffee in Malawi is taken as a case study to illustrate the contribution that an ICM approach could make to sustainable increases in crop production. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry