Challenges of Smallholder Farming in Ethiopia and Opportunities by Adopting Climate-Smart Agriculture

Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, and the agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farming systems. The farming systems are facing constraints such as small land size, lack of resources, and increasing degradation of soil quality that hamper sustainable crop production and food security. The effects of climate change (e.g., frequent occurrence of extreme weather events) exacerbate these problems. Applying appropriate technologies like climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help to resolve the constraints of smallholder farming systems. This paper provides a comprehensive overview regarding opportunities and challenges of traditional and newly developed CSA practices in Ethiopia, such as integrated soil fertility management, water harvesting, and agroforestry. These practices are commonly related to drought resilience, stability of crop yields, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, and higher household income. However, the adoption of the practices by smallholder farmers is often limited, mainly due to shortage of cropland, land tenure issues, lack of adequate knowledge about CSA, slow return on investments, and insufficient policy and implementation schemes. It is suggested that additional measures be developed and made available to help CSA practices become more prevalent in smallholder farming systems. The measures should include the utilization of degraded and marginal lands, improvement of the soil organic matter management, provision of capacity-building opportunities and financial support, as well as the development of specific policies for smallholder farming.

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Upscaling Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis and Related Agroecosystems Services in Smallholder Farming Systems

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2016/4376240 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Marjorie Bonareri Oruru ◽

Ezekiel Mugendi Njeru

Keyword(s):

Soil Fertility ◽

Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽

Crop Production ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Resource Scarcity ◽

Mycorrhizal Symbiosis ◽

Smallholder Farming ◽

Smallholder Farming Systems

Smallholder farming systems form unique ecosystems that can protect beneficial soil biota and form an important source of useful genetic resources. They are characterized by high level of agricultural diversity mainly focused on meeting farmers’ needs. Unfortunately, these systems often experience poor crop production mainly associated with poor planning and resource scarcity. Soil fertility is among the primary challenges faced by smallholder farmers, which necessitate the need to come up with affordable and innovative ways of replenishing soils. One such way is the use of microbial symbionts such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), a beneficial group of soil microbiota that form symbiotic associations with majority of cultivated crops and play a vital role in biological soil fertility, plant nutrition, and protection. AMF can be incorporated in smallholder farming systems to help better exploit chemical fertilizers inputs which are often unaffordable to many smallholder farmers. The present review highlights smallholder farming practices that could be innovatively redesigned to increase AMF symbiosis and related agroecosystem services. Indeed, the future of global food security depends on the success of smallholder farming systems, whose crop productivity depends on the services provided by well-functioning ecosystems, including soil fertility.

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Can Enhancing Efficiency Promote the Economic Viability of Smallholder Farmers? A Case of Sierra Leone

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084235 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4235

Author(s):

Silvia Saravia-Matus ◽

T. S. Amjath-Babu ◽

Sreejith Aravindakshan ◽

Stefan Sieber ◽

Jimmy A. Saravia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sierra Leone ◽

Technical Efficiency ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Crop Production ◽

Structural Equation Models ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Economic Viability ◽

Necessary Condition ◽

Smallholder Farming

By developing meta-frontier efficiency and structural equation models, the paper examines whether farm economic viability is positively associated with technical efficiency in a highly food insecure context, such as that of rural Sierra Leone. The findings show that technical efficiency can be a sufficient but not necessary condition in determining economic viability of smallholder farming. It is possible to breach reproductive thresholds at the cost of reduced technical efficiency, when the crop diversification strategy of smallholders includes market-oriented high-value crops. This calls for a dual policy approach that addresses farmers’ internal needs for self-consumption (increasing efficiency of food crop production) while encouraging market-oriented cash crop production (diversification assisted through the reduction of associated transaction costs and the establishment of accessible commercialization channels of export related crops and/or high-value crops). The work also calls out for a move-up or move-out strategy for small holders to create viable farming systems in developing world.

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Economic Analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies in Maize Production in Smallholder Farming Systems

African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-42091-8_17-1 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Angeline Mujeyi ◽

Maxwell Mudhara

Keyword(s):

Economic Analysis ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Smallholder Farming ◽

Maize Production ◽

Smallholder Farming Systems ◽

Smart Agriculture

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Conservation agriculture for climate smart agriculture in smallholder farming systems in Kenya.

10.1079/9781789245745.0027 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 431-442

Author(s):

Alfred Micheni ◽

Patrick Gicheru ◽

Onesmus Kitonyo

Keyword(s):

Crop Yields ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Conservation Agriculture ◽

Field Trials ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Smallholder Farming ◽

Yield Increase ◽

Adequate Food ◽

Labour Requirement ◽

Smart Agriculture

Abstract Climate change is any significant change in climatic conditions. Such changes may negatively affect productivity of the rain-fed agriculture practised by over 75% of the smallholder Kenyan farmers. The effect leads to failure to sustainably provide adequate food and revenue to famers. It is on this basis that an almost 8-year field study was conducted to evaluate and scale climate resilient agricultural technological options associated with Conservation Agriculture (CA) systems and practices (no-till; maintenance of permanent soil cover; and crop diversification - rotations and associations), complemented with good agricultural strategies. The activities involved were targeted to sustainably increase productivity of maize-legumes farming systems while reducing environmental risks. The results showed improved soil properties (physical, chemical and health) and consequently increased crop yields and human nutrition by over 30%. Such benefits were attributed to cost savings arising from NT and reduced labour requirement for weed control. This was further based on enhanced crop soil moisture and nutrients availability and use efficiency leading to over 25% yield increase advantage. Apart from the field trials, the study used the Agricultural Production Simulator (APSIM) computer model to simulate CA scenario with the aim of providing potential quick answers to adopting CA practices for farm system productivity. The results were inclusively shared, leading to over 21% increase in the number of farmers adopting the CA practices within and beyond the project sites. The study's overall recommendation affirmed the need to integrate the CA practices into Kenyan farming systems for sustainable agricultural livelihoods and economic opportunities.

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Adoption and the Role of Fertilizer Trees and Shrubs as a Climate Smart Agriculture Practice: The Case of Salima District in Malawi

Environments ◽

10.3390/environments5110122 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (11) ◽

pp. 122

Author(s):

Frank Musa ◽

Judith Kamoto ◽

Charles Jumbe ◽

Leo Zulu

Keyword(s):

Land Tenure ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Household Survey ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Tobit Model ◽

Degraded Soil ◽

Smart Agriculture ◽

Trees And Shrubs ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

Fertilizer trees and shrubs can improve degraded soil and avert the impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers in Malawi. This paper analyses the roles of fertilizer trees and shrubs and factors that determine adoption, as well as the intensity of use of fertilizer on trees and shrubs in maize-based farming systems using the Tobit model. A household survey involving 250 smallholder farmers was conducted in Salima district, Malawi. The analysis shows that adopters of fertilizer trees and shrubs considered fertility improvement, shade, source of food and erosion control as main roles of fertilizer trees and shrubs. The Tobit model shows that households with relatively more land are more likely to adopt fertilizer trees and shrubs than those with small land sizes. Adoption is higher among farmers who had been exposed to fertilizer trees and shrubs for longer periods than others had. Land tenure, education and availability of labor also influence the adoption of fertilizer trees and shrubs. Results further show that household and farm characteristics and availability of extension services explain the current adoption rates of tree-fertilizer technologies. Our findings can guide effective targeting of farmers to ensure higher adoption and sustainability of fertilizer-tree and shrub technology for climate-smart agriculture among the smallholder farmers.

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