Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis

Sub-Saharan Africa is grappling with increasing food demand amid a growing population amidst a surging climate crisis. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) emerges as one option to address these challenges and enhance livelihoods. However, evidence of the impacts of CSA on livelihoods remains thin and mi...

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Main Authors: Simutowe, Esau, Ngoma, Hambulo, Thierfelder, Christian
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: SAGE Publications 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173552
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author Simutowe, Esau
Ngoma, Hambulo
Thierfelder, Christian
author_browse Ngoma, Hambulo
Simutowe, Esau
Thierfelder, Christian
author_facet Simutowe, Esau
Ngoma, Hambulo
Thierfelder, Christian
author_sort Simutowe, Esau
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Sub-Saharan Africa is grappling with increasing food demand amid a growing population amidst a surging climate crisis. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) emerges as one option to address these challenges and enhance livelihoods. However, evidence of the impacts of CSA on livelihoods remains thin and mixed. We used a meta-analysis with 19 studies to assess the impacts of CSA practices on crop and household income, poverty, and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on the literature, adoption of CSA is positively correlated with crop and household income, and food security. We do not find statistically significant effects on poverty and food security results. These results signify the need to integrate CSA with other complementary measures such as access to extension services, markets, climate-related risk insurance, and finance to improve food security and reduce poverty. We can conjecture that the positive effects on incomes are not sufficient to significantly drive up food security and poverty alleviation.
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spelling CGSpace1735522025-10-26T12:52:17Z Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis Simutowe, Esau Ngoma, Hambulo Thierfelder, Christian conservation agriculture food security impact assessment income poverty climate-smart agriculture Sub-Saharan Africa is grappling with increasing food demand amid a growing population amidst a surging climate crisis. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) emerges as one option to address these challenges and enhance livelihoods. However, evidence of the impacts of CSA on livelihoods remains thin and mixed. We used a meta-analysis with 19 studies to assess the impacts of CSA practices on crop and household income, poverty, and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on the literature, adoption of CSA is positively correlated with crop and household income, and food security. We do not find statistically significant effects on poverty and food security results. These results signify the need to integrate CSA with other complementary measures such as access to extension services, markets, climate-related risk insurance, and finance to improve food security and reduce poverty. We can conjecture that the positive effects on incomes are not sufficient to significantly drive up food security and poverty alleviation. 2025-09 2025-03-10T21:07:19Z 2025-03-10T21:07:19Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173552 en Limited Access SAGE Publications Simutowe, E., Ngoma, H., & Thierfelder, C. (2025). Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis. Outlook on Agriculture. https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270251322797
spellingShingle conservation agriculture
food security
impact assessment
income
poverty
climate-smart agriculture
Simutowe, Esau
Ngoma, Hambulo
Thierfelder, Christian
Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
title Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
title_full Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
title_fullStr Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
title_short Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
title_sort impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub saharan africa a meta analysis
topic conservation agriculture
food security
impact assessment
income
poverty
climate-smart agriculture
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173552
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AT ngomahambulo impactsofclimatesmartagricultureonlivelihoodsinsubsaharanafricaametaanalysis
AT thierfelderchristian impactsofclimatesmartagricultureonlivelihoodsinsubsaharanafricaametaanalysis