Do organic farming initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa improve the sustainability of smallholder farmers? Evidence from five case studies in Ghana and Kenya

Organic agriculture (OA) is often regarded as a sustainable agricultural pathway for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, and an increasing number of initiatives promoting OA were initiated over the last decades. However, holistic empirical evidence on the effects of such initiatives on the sustainability of smallholder farmers is still scanty. We analyzed the effects of five initiatives promoting OA on farm-level sustainability. We selected farmers exposed to the initiatives (n = 678) and control farms (n = 957) in five different case studies, two implemented in Ghana and three in Kenya. We used a farm-level multi-criteria assessment tool that evaluates to what extent the environmental, social, economic, and governance sustainability goals formulated in the FAO-SAFA Guidelines are addressed by farmers. We found that the initiatives had limited effects on reducing farmers reliance on chemical inputs use (pesticides and synthetic fertilizers) and uptake of organic or agro-ecological practices. Nevertheless, the results show that the initiatives were able to trigger significant (p-value < 0.05) positive effects mainly for the environmental sustainability goals. In contrast, the goals within the economic, social and good governance sustainability dimensions were rarely affected. Moreover, certified initiatives had more frequently a positive sustainability effect compared to uncertified initiatives

MOESM1 of Cocoa farming households in Ghana consider organic practices as climate smart and livelihoods enhancer

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Determinants of pesticides use among tomato farmers in the Bono and Ahafo regions of Ghana

Abstract Tomato production plays a crucial role in the livelihoods of farmers and agricultural households in the forest savanna transitional belt of Ghana. However, the success of tomato cultivation is hindered by the presence of insect pests and diseases, necessitating the use of agricultural inputs. This study aimed to identify the pesticides used in tomato farming, assess their World Health Organization (WHO) active ingredient hazard class, determine the precautionary behaviour associated with pesticide use by tomato farmers, and elucidate the socio-economic factors influencing pesticide usage in the Bono and Ahafo regions of Ghana. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 1009 respondents, who were administered a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used to analyse the collected data. The results revealed that tomato farmers utilized 15 types of insecticides (e.g., lambda and chlorpyrifos ethyl based), 8 types of fungicides (e.g., mancozeb and sulphur + copper based), and 6 types of weedicides (mostly glyphosate based) on their crops. Notably, four insecticides and two fungicides types were found to be unregistered products. Lambda-cyhalothrin-based insecticides and mancozeb-based fungicides were predominantly used by the farmers. The assessed pesticides exhibited varying levels of hazard, ranging from slight to moderate. The study found that farmer training was a significant driver influencing insecticide use, while the educational level of farmers and average yield played important roles in determining fungicide use. Socio-economic factors such as being the head of the household, employing farm workers, the cultivated tomato variety, and farmer training influenced weedicide use. The type of tomato variety cultivated emerged as the primary socio-economic driver of pesticide use. The study recommended the establishment and implementation of a systematic monitoring regime for pesticide product marketing and use, with the aim of reducing the utilization of unregistered products by farmers. Implementing these measures supports sustainable tomato farming in the Bono and Ahafo regions of Ghana

Тыпавая вучэбная праграма для устаноў вышэйшай адукацыі па спецыяльнасці 1-21 03 01 Гісторыя (па накірунках), накірунак спецыяльнасці 1-24 03 01-03 Гісторыя (этналогія)

The potential of organic agriculture to contribute to sustainable development in Ghana is unclear. This article assesses the sustainability performance of organic and conventional cocoa farming systems in Ghana. Data was collected from 398 organic and conventional cocoa farmers using the SMART-Farm tool. Compared to conventional cocoa farming systems, we found a higher environmental sustainability performance in organic cocoa farming systems regarding water withdrawal (+29%), species diversity (+26%), land degradation (+24%), genetic diversity (+24%) and greenhouse gases (+22%). The organic farming systems performed better compared to conventional in profitability (+20%) due to market premiums, gender equity (+27%), and verbally committed to sustainability topics (+25%). Agronomic practices had a strong influence on the observed sustainability performance, especially the environmental performance. Typical organic cocoa farming system has small farm sizes, spends more hours weeding manually since chemical weedicides are prohibited and has more diverse crops. Measures to improve performance is paramount for farming systems sustainability

Sustainable intensification pathways in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing eco-efficiency of smallholder perennial cash crop production

CONTEXT Eco-efficiency offers a promising approach for the sustainable intensification of production systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is widely used for eco-efficiency analyses, is however sensitive to outliers and the analysis of the influence of external factors in the second stage requires the separability assumption to hold. Order-m estimators are proposed to overcome those disadvantages, but have been rarely applied in eco-efficiency analysis. OBJECTIVE This paper assesses the eco-efficiency of smallholder perennial cash crop production in Ghana and Kenya. It examines factors influencing eco-efficiency scores and in doing so, tests the application of order-m frontiers as a promising method for eco-efficiency analysis in the agricultural context. METHODS The analysis is performed for four selected perennial crop cases, namely cocoa, coffee, macadamia, and mango, applying DEA as well as the order-m approach to a comprehensive empirical dataset. Seven relevant environmental pressures as well as determining factors around capacity development, farm and farmer features, and crop production environment are considered. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The distribution of eco-efficiency estimates among coffee farms showed the widest spread, which indicates the greatest potential to increase eco-efficiency. However, also the dispersion of scores within the other crop cases suggests room for improvements of eco-efficiency within the current production context. The subsequent analysis of determinants based on the order-m scores revealed that eco-efficiency scores were strongly influenced by variables, which measure capacity development, and resource endowments, such as labor and land, whereas the crop production environment had some influence, but results were unspecific. Generally, a positive effect is highly context-specific. The results underline the importance of designing effective training modalities and policies that allow knowledge to be put into practice, which involves the creation of marketing opportunities, the provision of targeted and regular advisory services, as well as region-wide measures to build and maintain soil fertility in a sustainable manner. SIGNIFICANCE To our knowledge, this study presents the first attempt to apply inputoriented order-m frontiers to assess eco-efficiency in the agricultural context, comparing its eco-efficiency rankings to those estimated with the widely applied DEA approach. This can inform the discussion on robust eco-efficiency assessments

How is organic farming performing agronomically and economically in sub-Saharan Africa?

The potential of organic agriculture and agroecological approaches for improving food security in Africa is a controversial topic in global discussions. While there is a number of meta-analyses on the environmental, agronomic and financial performance of organic farming, most of the underlying data stems from on-station field trials from temperate regions. Data from sub-Sahara Africa in particular, as well as detailed real-farm data is scarce. How organic farming is implemented in sub-Saharan Africa and how it performs in a smallholder context remains poorly understood. We applied a novel observational two-factorial research design, which allowed to evaluate the impacts of i) interventions for introducing organic agriculture and ii) specific organic management practices on 1,645 farms from five case studies in Ghana and Kenya, which we closely monitored for 24 months. Among the farmers who have been exposed to the interventions, we found heterogeneous adoption of organic agriculture principles, depending on the intervention. Furthermore, we found rather passive than active organic management among farmers. Most yields and gross margins under organic management remained at similar levels as the conventional values in four of the case studies. In one case study, however, coffee, maize and macadamia nut yields increased by 127–308% and farm-level gross margins over all analysed crops by 292%. Pooling our data across all case studies, we found significantly higher (+144%) farm-level gross margins on organically managed farms than on conventional farms. This indicates the potential of organic and agroecological approaches if implemented well. Based on our observations, we argue for improving the implementation of organic agriculture projects in settings with smallholder farmers. Limited capacities, lack of appropriate inputs and market access are major agronomic and institutional challenges to be addressed. Furthermore, we argue for supporting a differentiated debate about which types of organic farming are really desirable by classifying approaches to organic farming according to i) their intention to work organically and ii) the degree of following the organic principles. This will support the design and implementation of targeted policy interventions for stimulating sustainability of farming systems and rural development

Barriers to institutional social sustainability

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Barriers to Institutional Social Sustainability

Social sustainability is a work field characterised by an emphasis on social aspects, e.g. equity, ethics, health, gender balance, or empowerment, within a broader sustainability context. Although the concept seems to be reasonably well established and deemed worthy of pursuing, some obstacles prevent its wide dissemination. Through a bibliometric analysis focusing on the literature on social sustainability at institutions, with a focus on companies, this paper aims to investigate and describe some of the barriers associated with social sustainability implementation. Apart from identifying that sustainability reporting, environmental disclosure and financial performance play a central role in successfully achieving social sustainability, in the context of which gender-related issues seem more tangential, the results indicated some solutions commonly reported for overcoming barriers and obstacles to a company’s social sustainability implementation within different sectors. These solutions have to do, among many other factors addressed in this study, with strengthening communication transparency and trust, contributing to awareness, using technology to document and promote social sustainability. Thus, empowering organizations and citizens, recognized as essential factors to social development, and addressing the challenges in a multi-dimensional way