The Effects of Training, Innovation and New Technology on African Smallholder Farmers' Economic Outcomes and Food Security: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Many poor people living in Africa depend on their small farms for survival. There has been a lot of interest in trying to reduce poverty in the region by supporting these farmers to produce more and make a profit from their farms. Such interventions include training farmers and introducing them to new farming techniques and products, such as new crop types or fertilisers. Although a substantial amount of money has been invested in these approaches by governments and international donors, the effects of these interventions on food security and economic outcomes are unclear. This review examines the effectiveness of training, innovation and new technology interventions on the economic outcomes and food security of smallholder farmers in Africa. Interest has grown in interventions to support smallholder farmers because such interventions have the potential to improve both household income and food security. This review confirms providing smallholders with new biological or chemical inputs, particularly orange‐fleshed sweet potato, can lead to improved income and nutrition status. More high‐quality studies are needed to assess other types of training, innovation, and new technology interventions. Research is also needed to assess whether such interventions have sustainable, long‐term effects and whether they may cause harm to farmers or their communities. Plain Language Summary BACKGROUNDMany poor people living in Africa depend on their small farms for survival. There has been a lot of interest in trying to reduce poverty in the region by supporting these farmers to produce more and make a profit from their farms. This has included providing training programmes for farmers and introducing new products and farming techniques, such as fertilizers or new types of crops. Although a substantial amount of money has been invested in these approaches by governments and international donors, the effects of these interventions on food security and economic outcomes are unclear. We therefore set out to systematically review the available evidence. APPROACHWe searched thoroughly in major academic databases related to agricultural development (e.g. CAB abstracts, EbscoHost), as well as in the grey literature for all relevant research about the effects of training or the introduction of new approaches on smallholder farmers in Africa. We took steps to ensure we only selected the research that was relevant to our question and where we had confidence in the results. We synthesised the results of included studies using meta–analysis, although some sub–groups of studies could not be combined due to heterogeneity of outcome measures and lack of consistent reporting of statistical information. FINDINGSOut of the many thousands of research studies available on farming in Africa, we identified 19 relevant studies. Our analysis does not provide a coherent picture of the effects of training, innovation and new technology interventions on smallholder farmers' livelihoods. The conducted meta–analyses are based on very limited samples of rigor...

Introducing orange sweet potato: tracing the evolution of evidence on its effectiveness

“…The difference in vitamin A intakes between treatment and control groups was large in all three cases, at 250 µg retinol activity equivalents (RAE) for the reference children in the REU in Mozambique, 390 µg RAE for reference children in the REU in Uganda, and 894 µg RAE among children in TSNI, the latter of which was a more intense intervention. 1 All differences are statistically significant at the 5 percent level or better. Finally, where blood was collected, significant impacts on serum retinol were observed.…”

“…A recently published authoritative systematic review of smallholder interventions declared that orange sweet potato, which is rich in vitamin A and can therefore help address vitamin A deficiency, a form of malnutrition, "presented the most promising approach" to improving food security among smallholders [1]. Given the broad array of agricultural interventions attempting to alleviate productivity constraints on smallholders and improve their food security [2], this statement is quite impressive.…”

Nutrition integrated agricultural extension—a case study in Western Kenya

“…In addition, the baseline and endline interviews containing several questions about vegetables and nutrition may have sensitized the SK group to this topic and they may have gained information through the surveys. Other training, partly also on nutrition, took place during the study intervention period in study villages and knowledge sharing and distributing new seeds/crops were possible ( Stewart et al , 2015 ).…”

How stakeholder engagement has led us to reconsider definitions of rigour in systematic reviews

“…For example in 2012/2013 we produced a three-stage review on smallholder farming that included a systematic review of reviews, an evidence map, and a full synthesis. The Campbell Collaboration's processes were not flexible enough to consider all three steps and only accepted the full synthesis stage, which had to be written up as a standard systematic review, almost as though the first two stages had not taken place [10,11]. The very fact that our approach has not fit within the usual formats hints that the requirements for rigour within these formats may not be fit for real world decision-makers' evidence demands.…”