ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1605561
Evaluating the impact of adopting conservation agriculture on farm returns of smallholder vegetable farmers in the Eastern Cape Province: Implication for extension services
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- 2University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa
- 3Department of Agricultural Economics and Animal Production, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa
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Conservation Agriculture provides sustainable practices for reducing costs of production and enhancing soil health, yet adoption rate among smallholder vegetable farmers in South Africa remains inadequate. This study examines the impact of Conservation Agriculture adoption on farm returns in the Eastern Cape and explores implications for extension services. A mixedmethods approach was employed, using structured questionnaires from 200 smallholder vegetable farmers. Logistic regression identified significant factors influencing adoption, including age, family size, and farm size, education, credit access, market distance and extension services. An Endogeneity Switching Regression (ESR) model revealed that CA adopters attained higher vegetable productivity and income compared to non-adopters. Key challenges to adoption included financial constraints, limited knowledge, inadequate access to resources, and socio-cultural factors. Results highlight the economic benefit of CA and the need for targeted extension support, financial provision such as input subsidies and low-interest credit schemes to ease the financial burden on smallholder farmers, additional structured knowledge dissemination. Future research must investigate the intensity of CA practices across regions and long-term environmental implications.
Keywords: Adoption barriers, agricultural sustainability, conservation agriculture, Farm returns, productivity, Smallholder farmers, Endogeneity Switching Regression
Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qange, Mdoda, Nontu, Mabitsela and Gidi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lelethu Mdoda, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
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