Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Productivity effects of agroecological practices in Africa: insights from a systematic review and meta-analysis

 



Miriam E. Romero Antonio, Amy Faye, Bibiana Betancur-Corredor, Heike Baumüller & Joachim von Braun have published a first comprehensive analysis on "Productivity effects of agroecological practices in Africa: insights from a systematic review and meta-analysis".

Scholars have proposed agroecology as a promising method for promoting sustainable and socially just agricultural production systems. However, the extent to which agroecological practices will generate the yields required to ensure sufficient food globally remains unclear. This notion is particularly true in the context of Africa, where agricultural productivity is low but levels of hunger and malnutrition are high. To address this knowledge gap, this article undertakes a systematic review of empirical studies to assess the overall status of agroecology-related research in Africa. Using descriptive and meta-analytical methods, we evaluate empirical evidence on the effect of agroecological practices on land and labour productivity.

The meta-analysis indicates that agroecological practices are associated with a positive and significant difference in land productivity, compared to that for monocrop systems especially so when monocrops are grown without inputs. However, the size and direction of yield differs by practice, crop, climatic factor, soil property and type of control.

Read the full article HERE

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