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Soil fertility depletion is considered the main biophysical limiting factor to increasing per capita food
production for most smallholder farmers in Africa. The adoption and diffusion of sustainable agricultural
practices (SAPs), as a way to tackle this impediment, has become an important issue in the development policy
agenda for sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines the adoption decisions for SAPs, using multiple cross-
sectional plot-level observations, collected in 2010 from 681 farm households and 1,539 plots, in 4 districts and
88 villages of rural Tanzania. We employ a multivariate probit technique to model simultaneous adoption
decisions by farm households. Our study reveals that rainfall shocks, insects and disease shocks, government
effectiveness, tenure status of plot, social capital, plot location and size, and asset ownership, all influence the
adoption decision of sustainable practices. Policies that target SAPs and are aimed at organizing farmers into
associations, improving land tenure security, and enhancing skills of civil servants can increase the likelihood
that smallholder farmers will adopt SAPs. |
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