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Improvement of smallholder farming systems in Africa
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Improvement of smallholder farming systems in Africa

Charles Wortmann, Tilahun Amede, Mateete Bekunda, Keziah Ndung'u-Magiroi, Patricia Masikati, Sieglinde Snapp, Zachary P. Stewart, Mark Westgate, Zacarie Zida and Charles E. Kome
Agronomy journal, Vol.112(6), pp.5325-5333
11/01/2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20363
url
https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20363View
Published (Version of record) Open

Abstract

Agriculture Agronomy Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology
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 multi-disciplinary 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.

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