Uptake of Climate-Smart Agricultural Technologies and Practices: Actual and Potential Adoption Rates in the Climate-Smart Village Site of Mali

Mathieu Ouédraogo,Robert B Zougmoré,Prosper Houessionon,Samuel Tetteh Partey

doi:10.3390/su11174710

Abstract

Understanding the level of adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices and its drivers is needed to spur large-scale uptake of CSA in West Africa. This paper used the Average Treatment Effect framework to derive consistent parametric estimators of the potential adoption rates of eight CSA technologies and practices in the Climate-Smart Village (CSV) site of Mali. A total of 300 household heads were randomly selected within the CSV site for data collection. Results showed significant differences in the observed and potential adoption rates of the CSA technologies and practices (drought tolerant crop varieties, micro-dosing, organic manure, intercropping, contour farming, farmer managed natural regeneration, agroforestry and climate information service). The most adopted technology was the organic manure (89%) while the least adopted was the intercropping (21%). The observed adoption rate varied from 39% to 77% according to the CSA options while the potential adoption rates of the technologies and practices ranged from 55% to 81%. This implies an adoption gap of 2% to 16% due to the incomplete diffusion (lack of awareness) of CSA technologies and practices which must be addressed by carrying out more actions to disseminate these technologies in the CSV. Results showed that education, number of workers in the household, access to subsidies, and training have a positive effect on the adoption of most of the CSA technologies and practices. The adoption of drought tolerant varieties and micro-dosing are positively correlated with access to subsidies and training. The study suggests that efforts should be focused concomitantly on the diffusion of CSA options as well as the lifting of their adoption barriers.

Highlights

Climate change impacts on food security and livelihoods are already alarming and affecting millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa [1]
The climate-smart village (CSV) approach aims to scale up and out the promising options of agricultural practices and technologies tested for dealing with climatic variability and climate change in agriculture
The study provided a finer knowledge of the characteristics and drivers of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices awareness and adoption within the Climate-Smart Village (CSV), and should allow policy makers and NGOs to design efficient strategies for scaling up

Summary

Introduction

Climate change impacts on food security and livelihoods are already alarming and affecting millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been embraced as a unique opportunity for simultaneously achieving food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation goals [4]. In the last eight years, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has been addressing the need for proven and effective CSA options using its Climate-Smart Village (CSV) approach. The CSV approach enables ground-breaking research on agricultural technologies and practices to define their potential to deliver on the food security, adaptation and mitigation goals of CSA. Based on the principles of participatory action research, the CSV approach enables farmers to pick practices and technologies that meet their local specific needs and allows drawing lessons on agricultural technologies and practices to inform policy decisions from local to global levels [5]. The paper by Aggarwal et al [5] provides a comprehensive overview of the CCAFS CSV approach

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion