Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and food security threats: Effects of land tenure in Zambia

Among environmental challenges, sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) are imperative to attain better agricultural productivity and food security status of smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa, including in Zambia. To understand the adoption behavior of SAP of Zambian farmers in more depth, the study determines factors that influence the adoption probability of SAP. In particular, we study the effect of land tenure. Furthermore, the study tests the association of SAP use and food security of smallholder households. Data collection involved a structured questionnaire survey that was conducted in southern Zambia in 2016. The sample consisted of 400 households, 200 with customary and 200 with statutory land tenure. The probit regression analysis results indicate that land ownership influences the adoption of SAP in our sample. Households with customary land tenure had a 17.4%, 17.2% and 9.1% lower probability to adopt crop diversification, agroforestry and planting basins, respectively, than households with statutory tenure. Descriptive chi-square tests revealed that the implementation of crop diversification and agroforestry is associated with the food security status of smallholder households.