Impact of adoption of sustainable land management practices on food security of smallholder farmers in Mpumalanga province of South Africa

GeoJournal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwaseun Samuel Oduniyi ◽  
Clarrieta Chagwiza
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwaseun Samuel Oduniyi ◽  
Sibongile Sylvia Tekana

Agricultural information plays a vital role in adopting agricultural technology. The study explored if information acquisition is related to the adoption of sustainable land management practices (SLMP) and jointly decided in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Primary data were collected through face-to-face interviews, using a proportionate random sampling technique to get 250 smallholder farmers to participate in the survey. A seemingly unrelated bivariate probit (SUBP) model and a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model were adopted to examine the objective. The statistical estimation of the SUBP showed that there is a relationship, an empirical association between information acquisition and SLMP; while RBP estimation showed that information acquisition was exogenous in the adoption model; thus, the decision to acquire information and adopt SLMP was not jointly decided. Therefore, the study presents the determinants of information acquisition alongside with the adoption of SLPM. The result from the SUBP model, indicated that the years spent in school; agricultural extension service; the number of extension visits and the years of farming, influenced both information acquisition and the adoption of SLMP. The cost attached positively influenced the adoption of SLMP; while gender, marital status and age only influenced the information acquisition.


Author(s):  
Nancy McCarthy ◽  
Talip Kilic ◽  
Josh Brubaker ◽  
Siobhan Murray ◽  
Alejandro de la Fuente

Abstract Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, increasing the vulnerability of smallholder farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture. We evaluate the extent to which farmers in Malawi suffer crop production losses due to extreme weather, and whether sustainable land management (SLM) practices help shield crop production losses from extreme events. We use a three period panel dataset where widespread floods and droughts occurred in separate periods, offering a unique opportunity to evaluate impacts using data collected immediately following these events. Results show that crop production outcomes were severely hit by both floods and droughts, with average losses ranging between 32–48 per cent. Legume intercropping provided protection against both floods and droughts, while green belts provided protection against floods. However, we find limited evidence that SLM adoption decisions are driven by exposure to weather shocks; rather, farmers with more productive assets are more likely to adopt.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woldegebrial Zeweld ◽  
Guido Van Huylenbroeck ◽  
Girmay Tesfay ◽  
Hossein Azadi ◽  
Stijn Speelman

Despite the presence of several studies on technology adoption, there are limited empirical studies on how socio-psychological factors affect the adoption of sustainable agriculture. Therefore, this paper investigates how socio-psychological factors-such as social capital, information, attitudes, efficacy, and aversion-affect smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt sustainable land management practices, such as agroforestry systems, organic compost, and crop rotation with legumes. Cross-sectional data are collected from 350 randomly selected farm households using a pre-tested and structured questionnaire. A multivariate probit model is used to investigate factors that influence the probability of adopting these practices. The ordered probit model is also applied to identify and analyze the determinants of the number (intensity) of land management practices adopted. The findings indicate that nearly half of the farmers have adopted these land management practices to improve soil fertility, enhance water retention capacity, and increase productivity. It is also found that attitudes, information, education, group membership, relational capital, risk attitudes, and labor supply significantly affect the probability of adopting these agricultural practices. The estimates of the ordered probit model also indicate that extension services, risk attitudes, group membership, relational capital, education and labor supply are major determinants of the number of land management practices used. However, financial resources, biophysical factors and some demographic factors are found to have an insignificant effect on sustainable agriculture adoption. This implies that when it is necessary to promote sustainable land management practices and to stimulate smallholder farmers to adopt such practices in isolation or combination, specific strategies should be designed to improve awareness, build positive attitudes, reduce risk aversion, strengthen formal organizations, and empower endogenous groups (or informal institutions).


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 508
Author(s):  
Oluwaseun Samuel Oduniyi ◽  
Sibongile Sylvia Tekana

This study investigated the impact of Sustainable Land Management Practices (SLMP) on the smallholder maize farmer’s welfare in the Gert Sibande District in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Farmers’ welfare is paramount to agricultural development and rural vitalisation, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of the study is to identify the factors that influence the adoption of SLMP and to assess its impact on the net farm income. A multivariate-probit (MVP) model was used to analyse the determinants of SLMP adopted and an efficient endogenous switching regression model (ESRM) was used to estimate the impact of SLMP on the net farm income of the smallholder maize farmers. The MVP results show that household socio-economic characteristics and institutional factors statistically influenced the choice of SLMP. Subsequently, the pair-wise correlation matrix of the MVP model revealed complementarities among all SLMP implemented by the farmers. Similarly, the ESRM treatment effect indicated that the average net farm income of farmers who adopted SLMP were significantly higher than that of the group who did not. Consequently, the study recommended support policies on farmers’ demography, farm-based characteristics, and institutional factors to improve the welfare of the farmers and promote rural vitalisation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adenle Ademola ◽  
Sébastien Boillat ◽  
Chinwe Ifejika Speranza

<p>Declining land productivity remains a challenge for agricultural-based livelihoods and for achieving food security. This is particularly the case in social-ecological contexts where people are largely dependent on local food production for their livelihoods and food security, such as among rural communities in the Nigeria Guinea Savannah. Yet how land users perceive the problem of land degradation and their capacity to manage land in an environmentally sustainable manner, can influence the measures they can initiate to address land degradation. Using a case study of Niger state, Nigeria, this study examines land users’ experiences and land management measures to address land degradation in the Nigeria Guinea Savannah. 30 communities were purposively selected based on the validated mapping of the hotspots of degraded areas. We adapted the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies Sustainable Land Management questionnaires to also capture perceptions and administered 225 questionnaires to land users. Through, key informant interviews further insights and data on perspectives and motivations of land users and communities were collected to understand the land degradation situation and interpret the questionnaire surveys. Through qualitative and statistical analysis of differences in perceptions between socio-cultural strata, we show the relations between socio-demographic, socio-economic factors, and land degradation. We discuss land governance and sustainable land management practices for improving land productivity in the region.</p><p> </p><p> </p>


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