Impact of Agroforestry Adoption among Smallholder Farmers’ Households in Zambia: An Expenditure Approach

Abstract

The environmental, economic, and social effects of climate change are expected to be profound for smallholder farmers, especially in developing countries like Zambia, whose way of life is largely dependent on the natural world. Many developing countries have realized that climate-smart agricultural practices such as agroforestry are a solution to existing problems caused by climate change. Agroforestry technologies incorporate tree crops in farming systems that benefit farmers with fodder for animals and fruits, reduce erosion, and reclaim soil fertility. This study investigated the impacts of agroforestry adoption on smallholder farmers’ crop productivity and household expenditure in Nyimba district, Zambia. The study further explored the factors influencing the adoption of agroforestry among smallholder farmers in the study area. Data was collected from July to August of 2022 from 325 randomly selected smallholder farmers’ households in four villages in the Nyimba district of Zambia. A binary logistic regression model was used in this study to determine factors influencing the adoption of agroforestry among smallholder farmers. The results revealed that smallholder farmers’ household head education level, access to extension services, household size, access to credit, farming experience, farmland size, and distance to the nearest market had an influence on agroforestry adoption. Propensity score matching was performed to determine the impacts of agroforestry adoption on smallholder farmers’ household expenditure and crop productivity. The results revealed that smallholder farmers’ household adopters had 1,929.040 kilograms of crop yield (Zea mays L.) higher than non-adopters by 817.43 kilograms. Household expenditure for smallholder farmers adopters was ZMW 8,873.47 higher than non-adopters by ZMW 5,617.91 in the study area. The findings imply that smallholder farmers’ households should implement agroforestry in the long term to improve their household welfare. Therefore, the study suggested that efforts should be focused concomitantly on the diffusion of agroforestry options and the lifting of their adoption barriers among smallholder farmers