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Sustainable agricultural practices, farm income and food security among rural households in Africa

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Abstract

Sustainable agriculture has been recognized in the literature as one of the important pathways to ensuring food and livelihood security among rural households in Africa. This study used data from the “Intensification of Food Crops Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (Afrint)” project to examine the impact of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs)—zero tillage, intercropping, residue incorporation and animal manure—on farm income and food security (captured as self-sufficiency in food production—SSF) of rural households in Africa. The multinomial endogenous treatment effect method is applied to control for potential selection bias from observable and unobservable factors. In addition, the multivalued treatment effect model and dose–response functions are used to examine the treatment effects heterogeneity associated with the adoption of SAPs. The study revealed that joint adoption of SAPs increases farm income and food security relative to the adoption of a single practice or non-adoption. Households obtain significantly higher farm income and food security via the adoption of at least three practices relative to households adopting less than three practices. These findings reaffirm the notion that adopting SAPs as a package rather than single practice enables farm households to derive significant welfare benefits.

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Notes

  1. We are aware of the potential endogeneity of income from off-farm employment. For this reason, observed values of off-farm income activities and their corresponding residuals from the first stage regression were incorporated into the main estimations. The results were, however, not significant and are not presented for purpose of brevity.

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  2. TC = [(MP*0.90*0.97) + (SP*0.90*0.97) + (RP*0.65*0.99) + (CP*0.85) with 0.90, 0.90, 0.65 and 0.85 as the milling ratios for millet, sorghum, rice and maize respectively and 0.97, 0.97 and 0.99 as the maize equivalent of millet, sorghum and rice on a milled basis respectively (Jolly & Gadbois 1996).

  3. The results in this table are not discussed due to space limitation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Management and Policy, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

    Abdul-Hanan Abdallah

  2. Department of Agribusiness Management and Finance, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

    Awal Abdul-Rahaman

  3. Department of Food Security and Climate Change, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

    Gazali Issahaku

Authors
  1. Abdul-Hanan Abdallah
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  2. Awal Abdul-Rahaman
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  3. Gazali Issahaku
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Correspondence to Abdul-Hanan Abdallah.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables

Table 5 Determinants of household adoption of SAPs in Africa
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Table 6 Test of instrument validity (pooled sample)
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Table 7 Test of instrument validity (Eastern Africa)
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Table 8 Test of instrument validity (West Africa)
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Table 9 Test of instrument validity (Southern Africa)
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Table 10 Hausman tests of IIA assumption (Eastern Africa)
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Table 11 Hausman tests of IIA assumption (Western Africa)
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Table 12 Hausman tests of IIA assumption (Southern Africa)
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Table 13 AIPW estimates of effect adoption m relative to non-adoption l
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Abdallah, AH., Abdul-Rahaman, A. & Issahaku, G. Sustainable agricultural practices, farm income and food security among rural households in Africa. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 17668–17701 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01407-y

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