Sustainable intensification of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: first things first!

We both belong to a generation of soils scientists and agronomists who have spent or are spending their career trying to develop and scale better soil and crop management solutions for smallholder farmers in the tropics. We have witnessed some successes in this, but also many disappointments. However, the work of the first author (BV) has primarily been in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), while much of the work of the second author (AD) has been in Asia. We both believe that there is great urgency to accelerate crop production in Africa, the region with the greatest challenges for food and nutritional security and socioeconomic prosperity. We believe that what SSA needs most now is an agronomic revolution.