Production and hidden hunger impacts of sustainable agricultural practices: evidence from rural households in Africa

ABSTRACT This study employs panel data from the sub-Saharan Africa’s Intensification (Afrint) project to examine the impacts of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) on crop production and hidden hunger. The dataset consists of 2368 households (4736 plots) across eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study utilizes a multinomial endogenous switching regression model in the empirical estimations to account for sample selection bias caused by observed and unobserved farmer attributes. In addition, the study employed Mundlak fixed effects criteria to address plot level heterogeneity. The results show that joint adoption of SAPs improves total value of output and reduces hidden hunger, relative to adoption of SAPs in isolation. Specifically, an increase in total value of output is at most USD8,288.66/ha whiles decrease in cereal self-provisioning capacity is at most 647.69 kg per adult equivalent. The results therefore suggest that joint adoption of the SAPs should be promoted over adoption in isolation. The results also indicate that the benefits associated with adoption of SAPs, either in isolation or jointly, vary across Africa. This therefore implies that compatibility and potentials of the SAPs in various locations of Africa should be considered when promoting uptake of SAPs.