Cropping system diversification in Eastern and Southern Africa: Identifying policy options to enhance productivity and build resilience

Giuseppe Maggio, Nicholas Sitko and Ada Ignaciuk

No 288953, ESA Working Papers from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA)

Abstract: Crop diversification is an important policy objective to promote climate change adaptation, yet the drivers and impacts of crop diversification vary considerably depending on the specific combinations of crops a farmer grows. This paper examines adoption determinants of seven different cropping systems in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, and the impact of their adoption on maize productivity and income volatility ' using a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model. These cropping systems consist in different combinations of four categories of crops: dominate staple (maize), alternative staples, legumes, and cash-crops. The study finds that relative to maize mono-cropping systems, the vast majority of systems have either neutral or positive effects on maize productivity, and either reduce or have neutral effects on crop income volatility. In particular, cropping systems that include legumes produce better outcome in most cases than those that feature cash crops...

Keywords: Crop Production/Industries; Productivity Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-09-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-eff
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:faoaes:288953

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