Smallholder farmers in southern Africa face acute food insecurity because the productive capacity of their soils has declined. These resource poor farmers increasingly cannot afford mineral fertilizers. Soil Fert Net researchers in southern Africa have developed and promoted a range of inorganic and organic “best-bet” soil fertility management technologies (SFMT) as options for farmers to improve soil fertility. This paper highlights recent financial, adoption, institutional and policy assessments on the use of SFMT by smallholders in southern Africa. Financial analysis of the SFMT ‘best bets’ indicates that (even with current unfavorable input and output prices) there are moderate positive payoffs to investing in some SFMTs, yet their rate of adoption is often slow. Because profitability analysis is sensitive to changes in maize grain price, crop yield and the cost of borrowing capital, policy interventions for better access to inputs, credit and an increased output price would create incentives to invest in soil fertility technologies and increase farmers’ income. Institutional and political support for better market linkages, input availability and policy advocacy are found to be indispensable in southern Africa to scale up the diffusion of SFMTs.

Socioeconomics Program

Text in English

0503|AL-Maize program

INT2341