Evaluating the merits of climate smart technologies under smallholder agriculture in Malawi

The merits of three climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies implemented by farmers were assessed in Machinga district of Malawi with respect to their soil quality and maize yield effects. Data were collected from farms implementing the three CSA technologies, namely conservation agriculture (CA), maize–pigeonpea (Maize-PP) intercrops and a local organic and inorganic soil amendment known as Mbeya fertilization (Mbeya-fert), from 2018 to 2019. With respect to resilience and adaptation, particulate organic matter, soil organic carbon (SOC), N, P, K, Ca and Mg all significantly improved while bulk densities were lowered under the three CSA systems. Higher annual biomass inputs and improved water infiltration from the Maize-PP intercrops were observed. With respect to productivity, CA and Mbeya-fert improved maize yields by 51 and 19%, respectively, compared to conventional farmer practices. With regard to climate change mitigation, increases in measured SOC in the top 20 cm depth compared to the conventional farmer practices amounted to 6.5, 12 and 10.5 t C ha−1 for CA, Mbeya-fert, and Maize-PP intercrops, respectively, over a period of 2–6 years. This suggests higher potential for carbon sequestration from CSA technologies. Furthermore, use of drought tolerant varieties, timely weeding and optimum plant populations, increased productivity. Improved gross margins from CSA practices were also apparent. Thus, employing these CSA technologies could enable farmers to be more resilient, productive and adapt better to climate change shocks leading to improved food security and livelihoods

Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: Adaptive management for environmental change

© 2016 The Author(s). This paper demonstrates how crop diversification impacts on two outcomes of climate smart agriculture; increased productivity (legume and cereal crop productivity) and enhanced resilience (household income, food security, and nutrition) in rural Zimbabwe. Using data from over 500 smallholder farmers, we jointly estimate crop diversification and each of the outcome variables within a conditional (recursive) mixed process framework that corrects for selectivity bias arising due to the voluntary nature of crop diversification. We find that crop diversification depends on the land size, farming experience, asset wealth, location, access to agricultural extension services, information on output prices, low transportation costs and general information access. Our results also indicate that an increase in the rate of adoption improves crop productivity, income, food security and nutrition at household level. Overall, our results are indicative of the importance of crop diversification as a viable climate smart agriculture practice that significantly enhances crop productivity and consequently resilience in rural smallholder farming systems. We, therefore, recommend wider adoption of diversified cropping systems notably those currently less diversified for greater adaptation to the ever-changing climate