Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Adoption Trends, Impacts, and Challenges Among Smallholder Farmers

Abstract

Sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) remain the panacea to addressing challenges relating to climate change, low rainfall, and low agricultural productivity in many rural parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These practices include but are not limited to crop rotation, intercropping, cover cropping, and conservation tillage. The aforementioned practices have been scientifically proven to enhance crop productivity while safeguarding environmental resources. This review assesses the trends, effectiveness, and challenges associated with the adoption and utilization of SAPs among smallholder farmers in the SSA region, analyzing the literature and reports from 2000 to 2024 sourced from databases such as Google Scholar and Scopus. The inclusion criteria focused on key concepts such as SAPs, adoption, and challenges. Findings indicate that crop rotation, intercropping, improved seed varieties, manure, and mulching are among the most adopted practices. In reality, practices such as conservation tillage, agroforestry, and water harvesting systems remain the least adopted practices in many rural parts of SSA. The review further reveals that challenges relating to land tenure insecurity, lack of knowledge, training, and limited access to financial institutions all have a direct or indirect influence on farmers’ choice of adoption. Overcoming the aforementioned challenges through policy interventions and capacity building is vital for improved crop productivity and rural livelihoods.