Adoption of sustainable intensification practices: Evidence from maize-legume farming systems in Tanzania

Haile, Beliyou; Cox, Cindy M.; Azzarri, Carlo; and Koo, Jawoo. 2017. Adoption of sustainable intensification practices: Evidence from maize-legume farming systems in Tanzania. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1696. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146255

Ensuring nutritionally adequate food supply in Africa south of the Sahara requires the sustainable intensification (SI) of its agricultural sector, especially in the face of expected population growth and climatic changes. In turn, this necessitates expanding the suite of integrated technological options at hand. Using primary data from Tanzania, this study examines the correlates and likely determinants of the adoption of six SI practices (SIPs)‒improved cultivars, cereal-legume intercropping, crop rotation, organic fertilizer, contour ploughing, and leguminous trees. Adoption is examined across different farm types we develop addressing five SI domains‒productivity, environmental sustainability, social sustainability, economic sustainability, and human wellbeing. Multivariate and ordered probit models are estimated to examine the correlates of adoption of individual SIPs as well as adoption intensity, the latter measured by the count of SIPs applied per plot.