Abstract
The increasing pressure on agricultural production systems to achieve global food security and prevent environmental degradation necessitates a transition towards more sustainable practices. The purpose of this scoping review is to understand how the incentives offered to farmers motivate the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and, ultimately, how and whether they result in measurable outcomes. To this end, this scoping review examines the evidence of nearly 18,000 papers on whether incentive-based programmes lead to the adoption of sustainable practices and their effect on environmental, economic and productivity outcomes. We find that independent of the incentive type, programmes linked to short-term economic benefit have a higher adoption rate than those aimed solely at providing an ecological service. In the long run, one of the strongest motivations for farmers to adopt sustainable practices is perceived benefits for either their farms, the environment or both. Beyond this, the importance of technical assistance and extension services in promoting sustainable practices emerges strongly from this scoping review. Finally, we find that policy instruments are more effective if their design considers the characteristics of the target population, and the associated trade-offs between economic, environmental and social outcomes.
Highlights
The increasing pressure on agricultural production systems to achieve global food security and prevent environmental degradation necessitates a transition towards more sustainable practices
Some suggestions on the lines of research are included in the analysis. The purpose of this scoping review is to understand how incentives motivate the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and, how and whether they result in measurable outcomes
This scoping review looked at the overall landscape of evidence of these instruments and their effectiveness in achieving the key outcomes
Summary
The increasing pressure on agricultural production systems to achieve global food security and prevent environmental degradation necessitates a transition towards more sustainable practices The purpose of this scoping review is to understand how the incentives offered to farmers motivate the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and, how and whether they result in measurable outcomes. Sustainable agriculture has the potential to directly contribute to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, including those relating to poverty (SDG 1), hunger (SDG 2), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), reducing inequalities (SDG 9), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), climate action (SDG 13), life below water (SDG 14) and life on land (SDG 15) The adoption of these sustainable practices usually requires concrete incentives, significant effort from farmers and the support of governments and public–private partnerships at national and local levels. Agricultural market trends affect producers’ decisions[6]
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