| Titre : | Local actors, farmer decisions and landscape crop diversity in smallholder farming systems: a systems perspective (2024) |
| Auteurs : | D. Kpienbaareh ; K. Mohammed ; I. Luginaah ; J. Wang ; R. Bezner Kerr ; E. Lupafya ; L. Dakishoni |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (vol. 374, October 2024) |
| Article en page(s) : | p. 109138 |
| Langues : | Anglais |
| Langues du résumé : | Anglais |
| Catégories : |
Catégories principales 06 - AGRICULTURE. FORÊTS. PÊCHES ; 6.4 - Production Agricole. Système de ProductionThésaurus IAMM PETITE EXPLOITATION AGRICOLE ; PRATIQUE AGRICOLE ; AGROECOLOGIE |
| Résumé : | Farm-level decisions affect the level of productivity and the character of smallholder agriculture landscapes. Landscape crop diversity (LCD) results from farmer decisions and provides information about the broader impacts of human-environment interactions. Here, we analyzed the LCD and assessed the influence of local agri-food actors on farmers’ decisions and LCD using semi-structured interviews (N=24) for an agroecological intervention and a comparable control area. We analyzed crop types and computed LCD from remote sensing data using Simpson’s Index of Diversity. With insights from systems perspectives and Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation, we explored the driving factors of farmers’ cropping decisions and the influential role of local actors in these decisions. We found LCD to be higher in the intervention area than in the control area – indicating that intervention farmers primarily practiced intercropping and crop rotation, creating heterogeneous landscapes. In contrast, control area landscapes were relatively homogeneous due largely to maize cultures. Intervention farmers were motivated by reasons of ecological resilience and the desire to adapt to environmental change because of their instrumentality – enhanced knowledge, expectancy – the expectation of higher productivity from practicing crop diversity, and valence – the value placed on the ecological importance of crop diversity to the environment and economic gain. These motivations emanated from years of work with a local agricultural non-governmental organization and farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing. The economic value of a crop and seed access through contract farming deals mainly motivated control farmers’ decisions. Thus, strategies designed to draw linkages between agriculture and landscape structure for environmental sustainability must consider the central role of local actors in influencing farmers’ decisions. |
| Cote : | Réservé lecteur CIHEAM |
| URL / DOI : | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.109138 |
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