TY  - JA
AU  - Omondi,J.O.
AU  - Chiduwa,M.S.
AU  - Kyei-Boahen,S.
AU  - Masikati,P.
AU  - Nyagumbo,I.
TI  - Yield gap decomposition: quantifying factors limiting soybean yield in Southern Africa
SN  - 2731-9202
PY  - 2024///
CY  - London (United Kingdom)
PB  - Springer Nature
KW  - Yield gap
KW  - AGROVOC
KW  - Crop yield
KW  - Soybeans
KW  - Limiting factors
KW  - Southern Africa
N1  - Peer review; Open access
N2  - Soybean production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is increasing as its demand for food, feed, cash, and soil fertility improvement soars. Yet, the difference between the smallholder farmers’ yield and either the attainable or the potential is large. Here, we assessed the contribution of various crop management practices to yield gap, and the major factors limiting soybean yield increase per unit area. This study showed that besides soil nutrients and plant nutrition, soybean variety is the most limiting factor in Malawi and Zambia, whereas, in Mozambique, seed rate is significant. Overall, in the Southern Africa region (Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique) the major soybean yield gap contributors are: variety (63.9%), seed rate (49.7%), and disease damage (36.3%), especially soybean rust. An indication that through yield gap decomposition, interventions could be prioritized to target the most yield-limiting factors with the minimum resources available to smallholder farmers and immensely narrow the yield gap
UR  - https://hdl.handle.net/10883/35328
T2  - npj Sustainable Agriculture
DO  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-024-00039-9
ER  -