Determinants of Simultaneous Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices under a Changing Climate in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

Sustainable land management (SLM) practices are essential for achieving food security, economic growth, and increasing farmer income in Côte d'Ivoire. Despite the alarming proportion of degraded land in the country and the necessity to reverse its negative trend, its adoption remains low. Thus, identifying the determinants of the simultaneous adoption of SLM practices is essential to develop and implementing appropriate policies to improve the productivity of land and farmers’ income. Using a multivariate probit (MVP) model with data collected from 785 farmers through questionnaires in the Iffou region, we analyze and identify the determinants of simultaneous adoption of SLM practices under a changing climate. The results reveal that the SLM practices are complementaries, meaning that the SLM practices adoption are linked. Also, the MVP results show that out of seventeen independent variables, sixteen significantly influence the SLM practices adoption. These variables are classified into demographic, institutional, physical, economic, and attitudinal factors. Overall results show that the government must establish and strengthen local agricultural institutions and policies to promote the adoption of SLM practices to achieve food security and improve farmers’ income.