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- Andersson Djurfeldt, Agnes, et al.
(author)
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Is there such a thing as sustainable agricultural intensification in smallholder-based farming in sub-Saharan Africa? Understanding yield differences in relation to gender in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia
- 2019
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In: Development Studies Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2166-5095. ; 6:1, s. 62-75
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Smallholder-based, sustainable, agricultural intensification is increasingly put forth as a development pathway that is necessary to improve farmer's livelihoods, enhance productivity and engender a surplus that can be used to feed growing urban areas across sub-Saharan Africa. The following article examines trends in yields for Africa's largest staple crop – maize – among smallholder farmers in six regions in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, using longitudinal quantitative data collected in 2008, 2013 and 2017 in combination with qualitative data from nine villages. Substantial increases in yields are found only in Zambia, while yields are largely stagnant in Malawi and Tanzania. In the case of Zambia, however, there is a persistent gender-based yield gap. We use the qualitative data to explain this gap and find that gender-based differences in yields need to be understood in relation to local production systems, as well as the varied positionality of women, where the biases facing women who head their own households are different than for women living in male headed households. In policy terms, technologies that can promote intensification are different depending on these factors, even within the local context of particular farming systems.
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| 3. |
- Djurfeldt, Göran, et al.
(author)
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Avoiding the counterfactuals: Research design in assesing the impact of agricultural research
- 2009
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Two things strike the eye in the literature and debate on the impact of agricultural research. Firstly, it is not unsurprisingly dominated by economists using cost-benefit analysis. Secondly and more surprisingly, much space is devoted to the discussion of counterfactuals, i.e. by an argument of the type: “If this research had not been made, yield development (or whatever indicator) would have been less than it currently is.” Counterfactuals are shunned by historians but crop up in the literature on impact assessment for a simple reason, viz. that assessment is made ex post and without careful benchmarking having been done ex ante. This paper argues that historians are right, that counterfactual arguments in principle are dubious, at least in social impact assessment and that alternative research designs, more useful for causal attribution should be aimed for. In the first section follows a review of previous CGIAR work in impact assessment and a general methodological discussion. This is followed by a review of the methodologies, first for social impact assessment followed by an examination of environmental indicators. In the concluding section we propose a selection of case studies in which it would be possible to apply the methods and indicators suggested.
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| 4. |
- Munialo, Sussy, et al.
(author)
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Micro-Spatial Analysis of Maize Yield Gap Variability and Production Factors
- 2019
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In: Agriculture. - : MDPI AG. - 2077-0472. ; 9:219
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Site-specific land management practice taking into account variability in maize yield gaps (the difference between yields in the 90th percentiles and other yields on smallholder farmers’ fields) could improve resource use efficiency and enhance yields. However, the applicability of the practice is constrained by inability to identify patterns of resource utilization to target application of resources to more responsive fields. The study focus was to map yield gaps on smallholder fields based on identified spatial arrangements differentiated by distance from the smallholder homestead and understand field-specific utilization of production factors. This was aimed at understanding field variability based on yield gap mapping patterns in order to enhance resource use efficiency on smallholder farms. The study was done in two villages, Mukuyu and Shikomoli, with high and low agroecology regarding soil fertility in Western Kenya. Identification of spatial arrangements at 40 m, 80 m, 150 m and 300 m distance from the homestead on smallholder farms for 70 households was done. The spatial arrangements were then classified into near house, mid farm and far farm basing on distance from the homestead. For each spatial arrangement, Landsat sensors acquired via satellite imagery were processed to generate yield gap maps. The focal statistics analysis method using the neighborhoods function was then applied to generate yield gap maps at the different spatial arrangements identified above. Socio-economic, management and biophysical factors were determined, and maize yields estimated at each spatial arrangement. Heterogeneous patterns of high, average and low yield gaps were found in spatial arrangements at the 40 m and 80 m distances. Nearly homogenous patterns tending towards median yield gap values were found in spatial arrangements that were located at the 150 m and 300 m. These patterns correspondingly depicted field-specific utilization of management and socio-economic factors. Field level management practices and socio-economic factors such as application of inorganic fertilizer, high frequency of weed control, early land preparation, high proportion of hired and family labor use and allocation of large land sizes were utilized in spatial arrangements at 150 and 300 m distances. High proportions of organic fertilizer and family labor use were utilized in spatial arrangements at 40 and 80 m distances. The findings thus show that smallholder farmers preferentially manage the application of socio-economic and management factors in spatial arrangements further from the homestead compared to fields closer to the homestead which could be exacerbating maize yield gaps. Delineating management zones based on yield gap patterns at the different spatial arrangements on smallholder farms could contribute to site-specific land management and enhance yields. Investigating the value smallholder farmers attach to each spatial arrangement is further needed to enhance the spatial understanding of yield gap variation on smallholder farms.
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