Climate-smart Agricultural Practices Research Articles

A bibliometric analysis of research for climate impact on agriculture

Climate anomalies and changes have complex and critical impacts on agriculture. Given global warming, the scientific community has dramatically increased research on these impacts. During 1996–2022, over 3,000 peer-reviewed papers in the Web of Science Core Collection database have investigated the fields. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of these papers for systematic mapping and inductive understanding to comprehensively review the research’s status, focus, network, and funding. After almost 30 years, the research is now centered in quantifying climate impacts on crop yields and agriculture productivity while seeking effective adaptation solutions. The hot keywords recently emerged include poverty, food security, water resource, climate service, climate-smart agriculture, sustainability, and policy. They suggest increasing concerns on global food and water shortage and pressing needs for action to adapt to climate change and sustain agricultural productivity. Given the uncertainty of climate change and the complexity of agriculture systems, most current studies are interdisciplinary research combining various agricultural fields with climate, environmental, and socioeconomic sciences. The United States, as the world’s leading food commodity producer, has the most diverse funding agencies and provides the largest number of awards to support the research. Future priority research should take the coupled earth system approach with the food-energy-water nexus principles to provide effective, actionable decision supports at local-regional scales to sustain national agricultural productivity and quantify climate-smart agricultural practices to mitigate global warming.

Factors affecting the adoption of climate-smart agriculture technologies in rice farming systems in Mali, West Africa

Rice is a major staple crop in Mali, yet it is very vulnerable to climate change. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has been proposed as a solution to simultaneously address the challenges of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and food security. However, there is limited understanding of the factors that influence farmers’ decisions to adopt CSA practices in Malian rice farming systems. This study aimed to identify CSA practices in rice farming systems and determine the factors that drive farmers’ adoption. We conducted interviews with 440 rice producers, 70% of which were women, and organized 16 focus group discussions (FGDs), including nine exclusively for women, in the Sikasso region of Mali. Data was collected through interviews, surveys, and FGDs. We conducted surveys using a questionnaire and the FGDs and interviews followed a standardized guide. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the data, and we analyzed the factors influencing the adoption of CSA technologies using a logistic regression model. The findings showed that crop diversification, improved rice varieties, crop rotation, tree planting, micro-doses of organic manure, and micro-doses of mineral fertilizer were highly adopted CSA practices in the study area. Key barriers to the successful adoption of CSA practices included limited input availability, lack of control over technologies, insufficient labor availability, insufficient availability and high cost of seedlings for reforestation, lack of information on developed technologies, and limited land access for women and youth. The adoption of CSA technologies was significantly influenced by social factors such as respondents’ age, education level, experience in rice production systems, gender, marital status, and membership in a rice producer cooperative. The results of this study are valuable for guiding extension services’ approach and implementation to scaling up the adoption of CSA technologies. These findings also underscore the benefit of policies and programs focused on disseminating rice farming system CSA practices.

Towards Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions Agriculture in North Africa through Climate-Smart Agriculture: A Systematic Review

North Africa (NA) is supposed to lower emissions in its agriculture to honor climate action commitments and to impulse sustainable development across Africa. Agriculture in North Africa has many assets and challenges that make it fit to use the tools of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) for mitigation purposes. This study represents a first attempt to understand if CSA practices are sufficiently established in NA to contribute to reducing agriculture emissions. A PRISMA-inspired systematic review was carried out on an initial 147 studies retrieved from Scopus, Google Scholar, and the Web of Science databases, as well as from gray literature. 11 studies were included in the final analysis since they report the mitigation and co-benefits of CSA-based practices within NA. A bias risk was identified around the optimal inclusion of studies produced in French, and a specific plan was set for its minimization. Synthesis results revealed that most studies focused either on improving soil quality (nine studies) or managing enteric fermentation (two studies). The review revealed a poor establishment of the CSA framework in the region, especially in sequestering GHG emissions. A set of recommendations has been formulated to address the identified gaps from research orientations and organizational perspectives and empower the CSA as an ally for mitigation in north African agriculture.

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) for Sustainable Agriculture Nexus: A Tool for Transforming Food Systems

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is a global strategy for enhancing food productivity amidst climate change uncertainties in the 21st century. CSA improves farmers’ incomes, reduces greenhouse emissions, and farming systems become resilient to climate change. Despite the vital role that CSA plays in the development of the agricultural industry and the economy, the extent to which CSA is related to sustainable agriculture (SA) is not well documented. Is CSA the same as SA? If they are the same, do CSA practices impose mitigation requirements for developing countries like Uganda? Studies or research on CSA and SA unfortunately have certain shortcomings. Lack of this knowledge makes it difficult to plan investments and develop policies that will increase farmers’ resilience to climate change and variability to improve SA. This study is aimed at assessing how CSA links to SA and whether the two contribute to climate change mitigation requirements. It was found that CSA and SA are also related in a way that the latter leads to lowering greenhouse gas emissions hence mitigating climate change. CSA and SA share a common principal goal of achieving food security. It was concluded that developing countries are the worst affected by the negative impacts of climate change and don’t have the adaptive capacity to respond to climate change effects.

Strategies to alleviate the unusual effects of climate change on crop production: a thirsty and warm future, low crop quality. A review

Climate change is one of the most common challenges in semiarid regions, which are affected by such constraints as drought, heat stress, and decreased soil fertility. The most important consequences of climate change – rising temperature, decreasing rainfall, and deteriorating quality of some crops – are studied in detail in this review. The main future climate scenarios in semiarid regions include decreased precipitation with highly irregular and unpredictable distribution patterns, with most rainfall concentrated over winter months, prolonged dry spells, early heat stress, exacerbation of edaphic constraints such as reduced soil moisture content, reduced soil organic matter, reduced soil biodiversity, reduced critical nutrient availability, and, ultimately, fewer crop yields. Due to the moisture and soil constraints caused by climate change, the cropping system, crop succession, and soil tillage techniques will need a major overhaul, and this requires modifying soil management and fertilisation, design of some new agro-climatic zoning, including neglected and underutilised crop species in rotations, optimised sowing time windows, expanded irrigation, design of multi-functional cropping systems, conservation agriculture, some changes in agricultural equipment, and the use of climate-smart agriculture practices. Rising carbon dioxide concentrations will decrease nitrogen metabolism by reducing photorespiration, and this reduces the protein content of the grain and worsens the quality of the staple crops. Selection of climate-smart varieties, application of agro-inputs at the right time, right place, and right amount (precision agriculture), and the use of leading technologies such as nano for designing the smart fertiliser should be considered to overcome the adverse effects of climate anomalies.

Adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices in the Gorganrood basin in Golestan province

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a managerial approach that aims to optimize the interactions of agriculture and climate. Since the Gorganrood basin in Golestan province is one of the regions influenced by climate change in Iran, this study was conducted to classify how CSA practices have been adopted across this basin. The statistical population was composed of all farmers living in this basin (N = 76140), out of whom 384 farmers were sampled by stratified random sampling technique with proportional allocation using Krejcie and Morgan's table. The research was conducted by the survey method, and the research instrument was a researcher-design questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. Cronbach's alpha also confirmed the reliability (α = 0.79). Data were analyzed by descriptive techniques and analysis of variance in the SPSS24 software package. The application of CSA practices was classified in the study site using the ISDM index in the ArcGIS 10.3 software package. The results showed that CSA application was generally higher than the average (1.63/3.00). The sub-basins were also found to differ in the use of CSA practices significantly so that the more distant a sub-basin was from the center of the province, the lower the extent of CSA application would be. Furthermore, some studied practices were costly and needed extension training, so they seemed to be largely overlooked in some sub-basins. Accordingly, different CSA actors are recommended to consider this approach a systematic and long-term solution whose implementation requires all-inclusive attention to farmers in different regions.

Promoting banana farmers’ adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices: the role of agricultural cooperatives

ABSTRACT To mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on farm productivity and food security, climate-smart agricultural practices (CAPs) have become increasingly crucial in smallholder farming systems. However, the adoption rate of CAPs remains quite low. This study explores whether agricultural cooperatives can serve as an assistor in promoting farmers’ adoption of CAPs. Unlike previous studies that account for one or two practices, we consider CAP adoption intensity by capturing the number of CAPs adopted. We employ an endogenous treatment Poisson regression model to address the selection bias issue and estimate data collected from banana-producing farmers in China. The results show that cooperative membership significantly increases the adoption of CAPs. Specifically, the incidence rate ratio estimates reveal that cooperative membership incites banana farmers to adopt 1.205 times more CAPs, and the treatment effect estimation further verifies the positive impact. Among the ten CAPs considered, cooperative membership particularly increases farmers’ adoption of banana diversification, crop residual turnover, and soil testing. Our findings highlight the importance of encouraging farmers to join agricultural cooperatives in promoting adopting climate-smart agricultural practices.

Valuing soil erosion control investments in Nigerian agricultural lands: A hedonic pricing model

The effects of climate change are often writ large in the nexus of water and land. In Nigeria, predominantly rainfed agriculture is confronting the consequences of climate extremes in the form of excessive rainfall, especially in the southern region. Relatedly, the hazard of soil erosion represents one of the most pressing forms of land degradation, thereby threatening agricultural production and farmers’ livelihoods. The objective of this analysis is to estimate the economic value of investing in a climate change adaptation strategy, specifically soil erosion control measures on agricultural lands in Nigeria. The analysis employs a hedonic pricing model, using household-level self-reported land values from the Nigeria Living Standards Measurement Survey, 2015–2016 and 2018–2019. Results indicate that undertaking soil erosion control facilities is heavily capitalized into Nigerian agricultural land values. The estimated marginal implicit price (MIP) for undertaking soil erosion control is approximately 26% of mean land values. This value represents around half the annual nominal median income of a Nigerian agrarian household. The estimated MIP of soil erosion control adoption is positive in areas that experience moderate rainfall. Results are maintained across a variety of robustness checks. Our findings suggest that soil erosion control adoption can be an important source of wealth creation among smallholder farmers who are mainly engaged in subsistence farming. Results support wider adoption of erosion control by landowners in accordance with highly variable weather patterns, and more broadly suggest the need to recognize the long-term gains from climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices and target investment aid towards sustainable agriculture.

Determinants of adoption of climate resilient practices and their impact on yield and household income

Climate change poses a risk to the livelihoods of rural communities by negatively impacting agricultural output and raising production costs. Climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices have been advanced as a possible solution to adapt to and mitigate climate change issues. This paper examined the main drivers of adoption of two CSA practices such as crop rotation and integrated soil management and their impact on paddy yield and net agricultural income. Household survey data was obtained from the coastal and inland districts of an eastern Indian state, namely, Odisha. Multivariate Probit model was used to identify the determinants of CSA adoption and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used to assess the impacts of these adopted CSA practices. The findings from the PSM method show that both paddy crop yield and net agricultural income have been higher for the adopters of crop rotation and integrated soil management. While, adoption of crop rotation resulted in an increase of 42–45% in farm income, the same for integrated soil management was between 27 and 34%. Further, adoption of these practices led to a yield improvement of about 2.5 quintals per acre of paddy crop for the adopters. The major drivers that jointly influenced farmers to adopt these practices were found to be access to extension service, access to credit, subsidies for seed and electricity use in agriculture. In light of these findings, main policy suggestions are – (i) extension staff need to be trained on regular basis on the technical aspects of CSA practices and (ii) more finances for CSA need to be raised and allocated for strengthening extension support, providing timely subsidies to the right beneficiaries and building CSA enabling infrastructure such as watershed projects and micro-irrigation facilities.

Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Food Production

Purpose: The aim of the study is to examine the impacts of climate change on agricultural food production.
 Methodology: This study adopted a desktop methodology. This study used secondary data from which include review of existing literature from already published studies and reports that was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: The study found out that the adverse effects of climate change includes rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events, on crop yields, livestock production, and viticulture. The findings consistently demonstrate that climate change poses significant risks to food security and agricultural livelihoods in different regions.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was anchored on theory of ecological modernization which was originally developed by Joseph Huber and the risk society theory which was proposed by Ulrich Beck. The study recommends that there should a focus on building adaptive capacity and resilience in agricultural systems to withstand the impacts of climate change. This involves promoting the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture and sustainable water management techniques.

Impact of adoption of climate smart agricultural practices to minimize production risk in Ethiopia: A systematic review

Climate change influences agriculture in sub Saharan Africa. The climate-smart agriculture approach is emerging as a new paradigm for adapting agriculture to the changing climate and mitigation. The main aim of this review was to assess the climate smart agriculture practice, factors affecting it and impact of climate smart agriculture. It was conducted by following systematic review procedures. It includes defining a research problem, conducting a literature searches, evaluating relevant material, data analysis, synthesis, and interpretation; and presentation. The result indicated that the climate smart agriculture implemented in Ethiopia were agronomic practices, integrated soil fertility management, conservation agriculture, agroforestry system, irrigation. The factors that affect climate smart agriculture in Ethiopia were age of the family head, sex, household size, education level, distance to farm land, farm size, farming system, farm income source, off-farm income, access to irrigation, market access, access to agricultural credit, access to extension service, membership to organizations, farmers’ perceptions of rainfall shocks, crop yield, access to climate information, access to agricultural inputs, slope, agro ecology, change in precipitation, tenure security and livestock ownership. The impact of climate smart agriculture practice improves soil fertility status, increased crop yield, per capita nutrition consumption and dietary diversity, increased income of smallholder farmers, hence reducing poverty. Therefore, adopting different climate smart agriculture practice should be promoted in different parts of the country. In addition, the study was limited geographically to Ethiopia and it is better to incorporate the study in Africa and worldwide level.

Effects of capacity building on rural women involvement in Climate Smart Agriculture initiatives in Rivers state, Nigeria

Abstract The study assessed the effects of capacity building on rural women involvement in Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)initiative in Rivers State, Nigeria. Respondents were leaders of rural women cooperative societies in Rivers State who were randomly selected from 23 Local Government Areas in the State. Structured questionnaire administration and Key Informant Interview was used to collect data while frequency counts, mean and percentages were employed to analyze the data collected. Results showed that the rural women interviewed were mostly adults, as majority (71.8%) were within the age range of 40 - 59 years. Majority (62.52%) were engaged in business/trading and other non-agricultural income generating activities, such as civil service (21.89%), income from pensions (3.13%), while 12.5% of the respondents had no other income generating activity aside farming. Some (40.63%) of the rural women had Senior Secondary Certificate as the highest form of education. Only 43.75% were aware of CSA, with 62.51% of them indicating low level of CSA knowledge. The major CSA management practices they know include mixed farming (50.0%), crop management practices (40.63%), application of indigenous knowledge and practices (25.0%) and soil management practices (25.0%). Approximately 84% have not attended CSA training before now. All the rural women (100%) used for the study upheld that CSA training is helpful in improving their CSA knowledge, imparted their readiness to adopt CSA practices (94%) and equipped them to be more involved in CSA initiative (100%). The major effects of capacity building on rural women involvement in CSA initiative are better knowledge of CSA for increased use of CSA practices (X̄ = 3.72), capacity to add value to their farm products (X̄= 3.69) and capacity to train others on CSA practices (X̄= 3.50). Regular training on CSA components by both government and private agencies could help in strengthening and sustaining rural women active participation in CSA initiative in the state and beyond.

“Climate-smart agriculture and food security: Cross-country evidence from West Africa”

In the face of climate change and extreme weather events which continue to have significant impacts on agricultural production, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as one important entry point in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and building climate resilience while ensuring increases in agricultural productivity with ensuing implications on food and nutrition security. We examine the relationship between CSA, land productivity (yields), and food security using a survey of farm households in Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria. To understand the correlates of the adoption of these CSA practices as well as the association between CSA, yields, and food security, we use switching regressions that account for multiple endogenous treatments. We find a positive association between the adoption of CSA practices and yields. This increase in yields translate to food security as we observe a positive association between CSA and food consumption scores. Although we show modest associations between the independent use of CSA practices such as adopting climate-smart groundnut varieties, cereal-groundnut intercropping, and the use of organic fertilizers, we find that bundling these practices may lead to greater yield and food security gains. Under the different combinations, the use of climate-smart groundnut varieties exhibit the strongest association with yields and food security. We also estimate actual-counterfactual relationships where we show that the adoption of CSA practices is not only beneficial to CSA adopters but could potentially be beneficial to non-CSA adopters should they adopt. These results have implications for reaching some of the sustainable development targets, especially the twin goals of increasing agricultural productivity and maintaining environmental sustainability.

Impacts and adaptation extents of climate smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers of Ethiopia: Implication to food and nutrition security

Impacts and adaptation extents of climate smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers of Ethiopia: Implication to food and nutrition security

Policy incentives for smallholder adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices

There is a large and growing literature on the potential use of policy instruments for stimulating the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices amongst smallholders. The objective of this article is to review and understand how the array of potential policy incentives can serve as mechanisms for enhancing adoption and upscaling of potential CSA practices by small-scale farmers in low-income countries. The review follows a matrix approach capturing where specific CSA practices (rows) are supported by typical policy instruments (columns) for enhancing widespread adoption. We first identify six key CSA practices, namely water management, soil and nutrient management, crop tolerance to stress, agroforestry and intercropping, crop rotation and mixed systems, and pest and disease management. Then we discuss the impact of those typical policy instruments, namely market prices, taxes and subsidies, land rights, rural finance, training and information, and certification and labeling. The review finds that most studies on this subject have a rather narrow focus on functional properties of a specific policy instrument and a particular CSA practice, thereby ignoring substitution, complementary or conditional effects between policy measures and CSA practices. Consequently, previous studies identify few incentives, particularly effective on their own. Wider perspectives on impact pathways point to the importance of sequencing and scaling for enhancing farmers' CSA adoption. We therefore advocate for more integrated approaches that also consider indirect effects of policy instruments on CSA adoption and pursue their systematic anchoring through successful policies that enhance widespread adoption.

EVALUATION OF CLIMATE SMART INDICATORS INFLUENCING AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON SORGHUM ENTERPRISE IN KATSINA AND SOKOTO STATES.

Presently, the state of poverty in Nigeria is frightening and climate change impends food security and increase poverty. The study was motivated by the increasing consequence of climate change and its impact on farmers in the study area. Farming households changing agricultural practices as a result of global observation of environmental changes. This research established a link that exists between climate smart agricultural practices and poverty in Katsina and Sokoto States. It was based on this that the study wants to evaluate the climate smart indicators influencing agricultural practices on sorghum enterprise in the study area. A multi-stage purposive and random sampling techniques was used to select three hundred (300) farming households in the study area. The objective was therefore, to determine factor influencing indicators of climate smart agricultural practices within sorghum enterprises in the study area. The study employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Ordinary Least Square (OLS) of the regression model to analyze the objective of the study housing material was significant at (P<0.01) and education was significant at (P<0.05). The study reccommends that:’Government, Non-Governmental Organizations and farmer’s associations should create a conducive learning environment by developing trainings and farmer friendly programmes such as environmental friendly farming systems to encourage rural household farmers develop interest and adopt climate smart agricultural farming practices. Extension delivery system approach should be down to earth’’ to meet the imformation age.

Effect of Global Warming on Agricultural Productivity

Purpose: The aim of the study is to examine the effect of global warming on Agricultural productivity
 Methodology: This study adopted a desktop methodology. This study used secondary data from which include review of existing literature from already published studies and reports that was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: The study revealed that farmers are experiencing changes in temperature and precipitation patterns including more frequent and intense droughts and floods. These changes are leading to lower crop yields and incomes. The study also found that farmers were aware of the impact of climate change on agriculture and had adopted several adaptation strategies, including changing planting dates, selecting heat-tolerant rice varieties, and applying organic fertilizers
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was anchored on Resilience Theory which originated from the work of C.S. Holling and Social-Constructivist Theory which originated from the works of Lev Vygotsky. The study recommends that farmers should adopt climate-smart agricultural practices, such as conservation agriculture and improved water management, to increase their resilience to climate change. The study also recommends that farmers should be given support to enable them to adapt to the changing climatic conditions including access to finance, education and training

Does climate-smart agriculture improve household income and food security? Evidence from Southern Ethiopia

Climate change threatens African countries’ economic development and affects agriculture and food security. Ethiopia is especially vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change because its economy is dependent on climate-sensitive livelihoods that have limited potential for adaptation. Emerging evidence indicates that climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change and increase agricultural productivity, thereby enhancing household income and food security. In the study area, different CSA practices have been adopted to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and improve agricultural productivity, income, and food security. Therefore, this study examines the impact of CSA practices on household income and food security in southern Ethiopia. A total of 385 households were selected using multistage sampling. Primary and secondary data were used, and propensity score matching with different types of matching algorithms, such as nearest neighbor, kernel, and radius matching, was employed to quantify the conditional impacts of CSA intervention on farm income and food security. In comparison with non adopters farmers that have adopted CSA practices had a higher food consumption score between 6.27 and 8.15, which was statistically significant at the 1% level. Overall, 34.55% of interviewed households had acceptable food consumption scores, 44.68% had borderline, and 20.77% had poor food consumption scores. Furthermore, households that adopted CSA practices had a 20.30% higher average annual farm income per hectare than non-adopters. The study suggests that effective extension services, accurate climate information, and sound policy support are required to promote and scale up CSA measures in the study area to improve farmers’ adaptive capacity, farm income, and food security.

Gender norms and differences in access and use of climate-smart agricultural technology in Burundi

The adoption and use of climate-smart agricultural practices are critical for improving the productivity and sustainability of smallholder farming systems. However, the gendered dimensions of access to and use of climate-smart agriculture in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production remain unexplored among smallholder farmers in Burundi. A mixed methods research design was employed to investigate gender dynamics in common bean production among smallholder common bean farmers in the communes of Kirundo, Bwambarangwe, and Muyinga in Burundi. In addition, how the adoption and use of climate-smart agricultural practices differed by gender in Burundi. A multivariate probit model was employed to evaluate how improved bean seed, pesticide use, irrigation, conservation agriculture and other factors contribute to reducing gender gaps and influencing access to and uptake of climate-smart agriculture. The results revealed existing gender gaps and differences in access to and use of climate-smart agriculture practices, with women being the most vulnerable. Disproportionate experiences of production challenges emerged as critical obstacles to gender equality in bean production. Drought affected women and young farmers more severely than men. Joint decision-making, access to information, and collective action in groups reduced gender gaps in bean production and gender differences in access to and use of climate-smart technologies.

Exploring The Nexus Between Crop Diversification

Following the effects of climate change, there has been a resurgence of interest in promoting crop diversification as a climate-smart agricultural practice in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve food security, increase income, and reduce vulnerability to external shocks. This practice is considered an effective risk management strategy and consumption smoothing strategy in a context characterized by repeated exposure to shocks. Agricultural production in Kenya is mainly dependent on rain-fed cultivation, with maize as the principal staple food crop. However, staple crops face major challenges and therefore, a diversification from over-reliance on staples will be important as part of progress toward achieving food security. The Kenyan government has, for a long time, been promoting crop diversification to improve household welfare and minimize risks associated with heavy dependence on maize. A decline in maize yields associated with the emergence of new pests and diseases, such as maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND) in Borabu sub-county, emphasized the need for maize farmers to diversify away from maize production. Although this strategy is in use, there is no clear evidence of the impact it has on the livelihoods of vulnerable households. Thus, the study sought to find out the nexus between crop diversification and household welfare among small-scale farming households in Borabu sub-county. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a representative sample size of 385 small-scale farmers. Primary data was collected using observations and interviews with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the STATA computer program. This paper adopted the Endogenous Switching Regression Model to determine the nexus between crop diversification and household welfare, with household welfare being proxied by household financial savings. The findings indicate that smallholder maize farmers who practiced crop diversification experienced an enhanced ability to save than a random individual would have experienced. Keywords: Crop diversification, household welfare, Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease, Endogenous Switching Regression Model. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/13-8-07 Publication date: May 31 st 2023