AgriScience Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Agroecology
Enhancing Farmersâ Productivity and Farmersâ Livelihood for Food Security: Findings from 8 Social Impact Studies across Asia and Africa
Abstract
VK Kishore, Constance Spitzer and Reshma Menon
Projections indicate that the global population will surpass 9 billion by 2050, making food security and poverty alleviation critical challenges. Smallholder farmers, who produce a significant proportion of the world’s food, are particularly vulnerable to climate change and face rising temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, and water scarcity, which threaten their farm productivity and livelihoods. This study investigates the social impacts of targeted agricultural interventions, including hybrid seeds, intercropping, knowledge transfer, and weather insurance, on small-scale vegetable farmers in India, Kenya, the Philippines, and Pakistan. On the basis of data from more than 2,000 vegetableseed customers gathered through standardized surveys from 2022 to 2024, the research shows that farmers perceive these interventions as improving their farming practices, increasing crop production, income, and quality of life. In absence of control groups, the farmers compared their perceived outcomes to their farming and livelihood results before the intervention. The results highlight the importance of obtaining both subjective and objective measures of agricultural success from farmers to design effective, scalable interventions. This study underscores that even small, targeted interventions can have a large impact. They offer scalable ways to make smallholder farmers more resilient and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No Poverty) and 2 (Zero Hunger). Targeted policies and investments in agricultural innovation may be essential to sustain these gains and ensure resilience in the face of escalating climate risks.
