Building resilience in Africa’s smallholder farming systems: contributions from agricultural development interventions—a scoping review
2024
Helena Shilomboleni | Graham Epstein | Ariana Mansingh
In this paper we use a scoping review to examine how the concept of resilience is framed and empirically applied with respect to agricultural development interventions in smallholder farming systems in Africa. We reviewed a total of 50 studies and found that most focused on two major strategies for building resilience. The first approach prioritized matching solutions, like Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), to the biophysical attributes of problems, such as the stresses and shocks associated with climate change. The second approach focused on advancing social equity goals to improve resiliency, while also integrating climate-related adaptation measures. Among such measures were co-created innovations that sought to affect social change on issues related to human agency, power relations, and equity considerations in resource access and use. The different conceptions and responses to climate and non-climate related risks and vulnerability in the reviewed literature also revealed growing tensions. There are especially strong critiques concerning resilience building interventions that prioritize technical solutions adapted to the bio-physical aspects of climate change. We argue for more constructive dialogue around what each of the two approaches might offer to contribute to improving resilience on a range of adverse social-ecological changes in Africa’s smallholder farming systems. Specifically, we emphasize the importance of valuing the complementarity contributions that both technocratic-focused and social equity-centered approaches offer as none of the different approaches on their own is up to the task.
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