Socio-Economics
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/0/26
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Browsing Socio-Economics by Author "Bandanaa, J."
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Item How Is Organic Farming Performing Agronomically and Economically in Sub-Saharan Africa?(Elsevier Ltd, 2021-08-30) Schader, C.; Heidenreich, A.; Kadzere, I.; Egyir, I.; Muriuki, A.; Bandanaa, J.; Clottey, J.; Ndungu, J.; Grovermann, C.; Lazzarini, G.; Blockeel, J.; Borgemeister, C.; Muller, A.; Kabi, F.; Fiaboe, K.; Adamtey, N.; Huber, B.; Niggli, U.; Stolze, M.; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) ; University of Ghana ; Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) ; University of Bonn ; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) ; Makerere University ; International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) ; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)The potential of organic agriculture and agroecological approaches for improving food security in Africa is a controversial topic in global discussions. While there is a number of meta-analyses on the environmental, agronomic and financial performance of organic farming, most of the underlying data stems from on-station field trials from temperate regions. Data from sub-Sahara Africa in particular, as well as detailed real-farm data is scarce. How organic farming is implemented in sub-Saharan Africa and how it performs in a smallholder context remains poorly understood. We applied a novel observational two-factorial research design, which allowed to evaluate the impacts of i) interventions for introducing organic agriculture and ii) specific organic management practices on 1,645 farms from five case studies in Ghana and Kenya, which we closely monitored for 24 months. Among the farmers who have been exposed to the interventions, we found heterogeneous adoption of organic agriculture principles, depending on the intervention. Furthermore, we found rather passive than active organic management among farmers. Most yields and gross margins under organic management remained at similar levels as the conventional values in four of the case studies. In one case study, however, coffee, maize and macadamia nut yields increased by 127–308% and farm-level gross margins over all analysed crops by 292%. Pooling our data across all case studies, we found significantly higher (+144%) farm-level gross margins on organically managed farms than on conventional farms. This indicates the potential of organic and agroecological approaches if implemented well. Based on our observations, we argue for improving the implementation of organic agriculture projects in settings with smallholder farmers. Limited capacities, lack of appropriate inputs and market access are major agronomic and institutional challenges to be addressed. Furthermore, we argue for supporting a differentiated debate about which types of organic farming are really desirable by classifying approaches to organic farming according to i) their intention to work organically and ii) the degree of following the organic principles. This will support the design and implementation of targeted policy interventions for stimulating sustainability of farming systems and rural development.Item Sustainable Intensification Pathways in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing Eco-Efficiency of Smallholder Perennial Cash Crop Production(Elsevier Ltd., 2021-11-06) Heidenreich, A.; Grovermann, C.; Kadzere, I; Egyir, I.S.; Muriuki, A.; Bandanaa, J.; Clottey, J.; Ndugu, J.; Blockeel, J.; Muller, A.; Stolze, M.; Schader, C.; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) ; University of Ghana ; Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Thika ; University of Bonn ; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ)CONTEXT: Eco-efficiency offers a promising approach for the sustainable intensification of production systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is widely used for eco-efficiency analyses, is however sensitive to outliers and the analysis of the influence of external factors in the second stage requires the separability assumption to hold. Order-m estimators are proposed to overcome those disadvantages, but have been rarely applied in eco efficiency analysis. OBJECTIVE: This paper assesses the eco-efficiency of smallholder perennial cash crop production in Ghana and Kenya. It examines factors influencing eco-efficiency scores and in doing so, tests the application of order-m frontiers as a promising method for eco-efficiency analysis in the agricultural context. METHODS: The analysis is performed for four selected perennial crop cases, namely cocoa, coffee, macadamia, and mango, applying DEA as well as the order-m approach to a comprehensive empirical dataset. Seven relevant environmental pressures as well as determining factors around capacity development, farm and farmer features, and crop production environment are considered. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of eco-efficiency estimates among coffee farms showed the widest spread, which indicates the greatest potential to increase eco-efficiency. However, also the dispersion of scores within the other crop cases suggests room for improvements of eco-efficiency within the current pro-duction context. The subsequent analysis of determinants based on the order-m scores revealed that eco- efficiency scores were strongly influenced by variables, which measure capacity development, and resource endowments, such as labor and land, whereas the crop production environment had some influence, but results were unspecific. Generally, a positive effect is highly context-specific. The results underline the importance of designing effective training modalities and policies that allow knowledge to be put into practice, which involves the creation of marketing opportunities, the provision of targeted and regular advisory services, as well as region- wide measures to build and maintain soil fertility in a sustainable manner. SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge, this study presents the first attempt to apply inputoriented order-m frontiers to assess eco-efficiency in the agricultural context, comparing its eco-efficiency rankings to those estimated with the widely applied DEA approach. This can inform the discussion on robust eco-efficiency assessments.
