Adoption of agroecological intensification practices in Southern Africa: A scientific review

Abstract

Many international policy and academic circles have explored the effects of climate change on household livelihood outcomes, such as food and nutrition security, household income, and household resilience. Yet, little attention has been paid to understanding how literature has framed adoption drivers of agroecological intensification practices, an area addressed in this study. This review consolidates available literature on how adoption impacts crop yields, food and nutrition security, household incomes, and poverty reduction in Southern Africa. We systematically reviewed 45 empirical studies on adoption drivers and the associated impacts on household livelihood outcomes. Variables affecting adoption of agroecological intensification practices are rainfall distribution and temperature, non-farm economic activities, status of soil fertility, market access, ownership of communication equipment, livestock ownership, age of household head, gender of the household head, household size, factors of production and wealth status. Majority of the reviewed publications found a positive correlation between the use of agroecological intensification practices and crop yield, food and nutrition security, household incomes, and poverty reduction. Thus, it is recommended that agricultural interventions are designed in a way that farmers have a sense of ownership to ensure continuity of adoption, and practices are tailored to the needs of the target population, taking into account both the mix of technologies and existing farmer resource constraints.

Keywords:

• adoption
• agroecological intensification
• livelihood outcomes
• review
• Southern Africa

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

This study reviewed literature on the adoption drivers of agroecological intensification practices and how their adoption impacts crop yields, food and nutrition security, household incomes, and poverty reduction in Southern Africa. Variables affecting adoption of agroecological intensification practices are rainfall distribution and temperature, non-farm economic activities, status of soil fertility, market access, ownership of communication equipment, livestock ownership, age of household head, gender of the household head, household size, factors of production and wealth status. It is strongly recommended that agricultural interventions are designed in a way that farmers have a sense of ownership to ensure continuity of adoption, and practices are tailored to the needs of the target population, taking into account both the mix of technologies and existing farmer resource constraints.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable work which helped us to improve the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union through the project RAIZ (Promoting agroecological intensification for resilience building in Zimbabwe), the IRD-ARTS and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the views or policies of these institutions, while errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mark Manyanga

Mark Manyanga is an Applied Economist and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. He is persuing a PhD in Agriculture Environment and Food Systems at the University of Zimbabwe in collaboration with UMR-SENS (Knowledge, Environment and Societies) research unit of Montpellier, France. He holds an MSc in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Zimbabwe. The paper contributes to the evolving debates on agroecological intensification in an equally challenging food crops production setting such as Africa.

Tarisayi Pedzisa

Tarisai Pedzisa is an Agricultural Economist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from University of Pretoria in South Africa and an MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Zimbabwe.

Benjamine Hanyani-Mlambo

Benjamine Hanyani-Mlambo is an Agricultural Economist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa and an MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Zimbabwe.