Improvement of smallholder farming systems in Africa

Abstract

This forum paper provides a synthesis and discussion of 14 categories of lessons learned from experiences for achieving farm-level impact with smallholder farmers in Africa. These lessons were reported in a symposium hosted by the Agronomy in Africa community of the American Society of Agronomy. The lessons, listed in order of frequency of reporting, were the need to: have adequate infrastructure and services; enable spontaneous adoption; have multidisciplinary and institutional collaboration; build on previous adoption of good agronomic practices (GAP); have farmer participation in research; encourage and learn from smallholder adaptations; make GAP promotion demand-driven; allow GAP choices; address challenges and trade-offs to GAP adoption; enable GAP-by-GAP adoption; reconcile conflicting messages; offer adequate profit potential with acceptable risk; reduce labor needs, especially for women; and build capacity for farming system improvement along the chain from farmer to research. The lessons are discussed and conclusions are reported.

Nutrient management for sustainable food crop intensification in African tropical savannas

“…Results from field research during the past 35 yr compiled in a published dataset (Wortmann, 2020) were analyzed for UTS and LTS (Figure 1). The highland and semiarid agricultural lands of SSA were excluded from this analysis.…”

“…The yield response data were from trials conducted since 1985 as reported in a database of >6,100 georeferenced response functions with citations (Wortmann, 2020). These functions were standardized according to yield (Mg ha −1 ) = a − bc r where a was yield at the plateau for the particular nutrient application, b was the maximum increase in yield due to the nutrient application, c (<1.0) was a determinant of the response curve shape, and r was the nutrient application rate (Jansen et al., 2013).…”

“…The objective of this study was to evaluate the profit potential for farmers of fertilizer nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) use at differing rates for several major food crops for UTS and LTS, with the results interpreted in consideration of various economic, agronomic, environmental, and social factors. Data from field research since 1985, compiled in a published dataset with sources cited (Wortmann et al., 2020), were used to determine representative crop N, P, and K response functions for six major food crops in each of UTS and LTS. These yield response functions were used for the profitability analyses.…”

Perennial grass ley rotations with annual crops in tropical Africa: A review

“…Major farming system changes are driven by sufficient profit potential with acceptable risk and manageable financial investment (Wortmann et al, 2020). The profit potential may be partly due to improved net returns on investment in annual crop production or improved fodder production.…”

It’s time to harvest! : Towards sustainable farming systems in the East African highlands

“…However, many management options for sustainable intensification are knowledge intensive and require expensive external inputs, making them out of reach for many smallholder farmers. Moreover, riskiness, labour shortage and limited benefits that can be accrued from small farms reduce the adoption potential of sustainable intensification options for smallholder farmers (Giller, 2020;Hazell et al, 2010;Wortmann et al, 2020). Hence, for a large part of the population, livelihood improvement through sustainable intensification is beyond reach (e.g.…”