Challenges of Smallholder Farming in Ethiopia and Opportunities by Adopting Climate-Smart Agriculture

• Published in: Agriculture (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 3; p. 192
• Main Authors: Zerssa, Gebeyanesh, Feyssa, Debela, Kim, Dong-Gill, Eichler-Löbermann, Bettina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2021
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Agricultural industry; Agricultural land; Agricultural policy; Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Agroforestry; agronomy; Appropriate technology; Capacity development; Carbon sequestration; Cereals; Climate change; Climate effects; Climate-smart agriculture; Community supported agriculture; Corn; Crop production; Crop yield; cropland; Crops; Digital agriculture; Drought; Ethiopia; Extreme weather; Farmers; Farming; Farming systems; Farms; Food security; funding; GDP; greenhouse gas; Greenhouse gases; Gross Domestic Product; household income; issues and policy; Land degradation; Land tenure; Livestock; Low income groups; Organic matter; pollution control; Productivity; Rain; Small farms; Soil fertility; Soil management; soil organic matter; Soil quality; Soil water; Sorghum; Sustainable agriculture; Weather; Ethiopia
• DOI: 10.3390/agriculture11030192
• ISSN: 2077-0472

Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, and the agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farming systems. The farming systems are facing constraints such as small land size, lack of resources, and increasing degradation of soil quality that hamper sustainable crop production and food security. The effects of climate change (e.g., frequent occurrence of extreme weather events) exacerbate these problems. Applying appropriate technologies like climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help to resolve the constraints of smallholder farming systems. This paper provides a comprehensive overview regarding opportunities and challenges of traditional and newly developed CSA practices in Ethiopia, such as integrated soil fertility management, water harvesting, and agroforestry. These practices are commonly related to drought resilience, stability of crop yields, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, and higher household income. However, the adoption of the practices by smallholder farmers is often limited, mainly due to shortage of cropland, land tenure issues, lack of adequate knowledge about CSA, slow return on investments, and insufficient policy and implementation schemes. It is suggested that additional measures be developed and made available to help CSA practices become more prevalent in smallholder farming systems. The measures should include the utilization of degraded and marginal lands, improvement of the soil organic matter management, provision of capacity-building opportunities and financial support, as well as the development of specific policies for smallholder farming.