Impact of a participatory agroecological development project on household wealth and food security in Malawi

Kangmennaang, Joseph; Kerr, Rachel Bezner; Lupafya, Esther; Dakishoni, Laifolo; Katundu, Mangani; Luginaah, Isaac

doi:10.1007/s12571-017-0669-z

Cited by 48 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…For example, reducing the dependency on purchased inputs (2) can reduce food insecurity especially for small-scale food producers. This is because less money is spent on buying inputs and so there is less reliance on credit, and therefore, potentially more resources to buy food (Hwang et al 2016;Kangmennaang et al 2017;Snapp et al 2010) although potential trade-offs might exist, since depending on quantity and type of inputs, crop yields could be affected negatively, and thus increase food insecurity. Alternatively, some agroecological practices could involve more labour that if disproportionately done by women could worsen children's nutritional status unless gender relations within households were appropriately addressed (Bezner Kerr et al 2019a).…”

Section: Principles Related To Food Security and Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroecological principles and elements and their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems. A review

Wezel

Herren

Kerr

et al. 2020

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

Self Cite

413

216

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There is consensus that the global food system is not delivering good nutrition for all and is causing environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity, such that a profound transformation is needed to meet the challenges of persistent malnutrition and rural poverty, aggravated by the growing consequences of climate change. Agroecological approaches have gained prominence in scientific, agricultural and political discourse in recent years, suggesting pathways to transform agricultural and food systems that address these issues. Here we present an extensive literature review of concepts, definitions and principles of agroecology, and their historical evolution, considering the three manifestations of agroecology as a science, a set of practices and a social movement; and relate them to the recent dialogue establishing a set of ten iconic elements of agroecology that have emerged from a global multi-stakeholder consultation and synthesis process. Based on this, a consolidated list of principles is developed and discussed in the context of presenting transition pathways to more sustainable food systems. The major outcomes of this paper are as follows. (1) Definition of 13 consolidated agroecological principles: recycling; input reduction; soil health; animal health; biodiversity; synergy; economic diversification; co-creation of knowledge; social values and diets; fairness; connectivity; land and natural resource governance; participation. (2) Confirmation that these principles are well aligned and complementary to the 10 elements of agroecology developed by FAO but articulate requirements of soil and animal health more explicitly and distinguish between biodiversity and economic diversification. (3) Clarification that application of these generic principles can generate diverse pathways for incremental and transformational change towards more sustainable farming and food systems. (4) Identification of four key entry points associated with the elements: diversity; circular and solidarity economy; co-creation and sharing of knowledge; and, responsible governance to enable plausible pathways of transformative change towards sustainable agriculture and food systems.

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Section: Principles Related To Food Security and Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroecological principles and elements and their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems. A review

Wezel

Herren

Kerr

et al. 2020

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

Self Cite

413

216

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It has been shown in previous studies that farmers' knowledge improves after being engaged in the implementation of various projects/research that led to higher adoption rates of a recommended technology, e.g. (Kangmennaang et al, 2017). Thus, farmers in both countries have some knowledge about legumes but this knowledge has gaps, and the various functions of legumes are not fully known.…”

Section: Farmers' Knowledge Of Legumes In Kenya and Drcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmer perceptions of legumes and their functions in smallholder farming systems in east Africa

Muoni

Barnes

Öborn

et al. 2019

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

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Legumes play an important role in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) farming systems through the provision of food, feed, fuel, income and a range of biophysical benefits, such as soil fertility enhancement and erosion control. However, their full potential is not being realized. The purpose of this study was to assess farmers' perceptions and knowledge towards legumes and the rationale of farmers for current legume production practices using a survey of 268 farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. Most of the farmers had some knowledge of legumes and their characteristics. However, they had little knowledge of some key functions, including soil erosion control and soil fertility improvement. Most farmers relied on radio and other farmers for legume-related information. Farmers with relatively large livestock holdings ranked provision of livestock feed as an important legume function. We conclude that farmers put more value on short-term benefits of legumes including food and income than long-term benefits such as natural resource management and thus grain legumes are more readily identified by farmers than forage species. Also, we conclude that farmers require more than just information about legumes to increase uptake, they also require improved market access to procure inputs and sell products to realize other benefits that are associated with growing legumes.

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“…Many examples of impactful participatory research exist in developing countries (cf. Kangmennaang et al, 2017), and excellent guidance documents are available for this context (cf. Garibaldi et al, 2017).…”

Section: Research Planningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing Implementation Science and Self-Determination Theory in Participatory Research to Advance Global Legume Productivity

Payne

Nicholas‐Davies

Home

2019

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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There are many challenges associated with increasing global legume production, and to overcome them will require stakeholders to modify certain perceptions and behaviors. Unfortunately, stakeholder motivation has been under-appreciated in global legumes research, despite its central role as a predictor of research uptake. Observational studies exist but often, motivation theory is wielded with a lack of conviction, and intervention studies have not yet emerged. Thus, participatory intervention research that embeds insight from contemporary understandings of motivated behavior, is a fruitful line of investigation. Participatory/transdisciplinary, reflective learning methodologies have demonstrated an ability to create new, and maximize existing, pathways to impact in legume productivity. Conversely, successes from the burgeoning field of implementation science have yet to be translated to agriculture research; frameworks exist that simplify the researcher's task of planning, applying, reporting, and replicating their transdisciplinary research. This review describes a novel methodological approach which promotes cross-fertilization of ideas between scientific, extension, farmer, and industry co-actors, engendering a dynamic learning culture; partners co-plan, co-execute, and co-disseminate their work together, in an equitable arrangement. This ensures that outputs are targeted to the needs of end-users and that both scientific and practical (local) knowledge is taken into account. Despite a recent proliferation of useful articles on knowledge co-creation in sustainable agriculture, this review is the first to rationalize to researchers the need to design participatory research which is informed by social psychology (Self-Determination Theory) and adheres to procedures championed in implementation science (e.g., feasibility and fidelity studies, systematic reporting). Theoretical rigor is added to the participatory research agenda, but this review also offers some practical suggestions for application in legumes research. While the focus is on legumes, this guidance is equally applicable to other crops and agricultural systems.

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Impact of a participatory agroecological development project on household wealth and food security in Malawi

Cited by 48 publications

References 76 publications

Agroecological principles and elements and their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems. A review

Agroecological principles and elements and their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems. A review

Farmer perceptions of legumes and their functions in smallholder farming systems in east Africa

Harnessing Implementation Science and Self-Determination Theory in Participatory Research to Advance Global Legume Productivity

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