Understanding spillover effects of sustained adoption of sustainable agricultural practices on household resilience to food shocks: Evidence from Malawi’s sustainable food systems program

Abstract

Food insecurity is one of the challenges the world has to do away with by 2030. However, to achieve a hunger-free world, the efficient use of allocated resources remains critical at both household and institutional level. The investments in climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural practices should cascade beyond the target farmers whereby longevity and sustainability of the interventions is embedded in the informal community networks as a spill-over effect to the non-targeted farming households. The paper analyzed the spillover effects of the climate-resilient program in Malawi and its effects on household resilience to food shocks among the participants and non-participants of the Sustainable Food Systems in Malawi (FoodMa) project. The main research questions were: (i) Are there any Direct and Spillover Effects of FoodMa on Sustained Adoption? And (ii) Is there any Spillover Effect of Sustained Adoption of SAPs on Resilience to Food Shocks? Analytically, the study used recursive bivariate probit (RBP) models and a two-stage predictor substitution model with instrumental variables to assess the effect of sustained adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) on household resilience to food shocks. The results showed that there was an increased probability of sustained adoption of mulching, organic farming, and pit planting by 45%, 66%, and 25%, respectively, by the project participants. On the other hand, the project has a strong spillover effect on promoting sustained mulching of non-project participants by 57%. Furthermore, the study found that sustained adoption of mulching by project non-participants significantly reduces the food insecurity levels of households by improving their resilience to food shocks. The sustainable adoption of SAPs has the potential to reduce food insecurity for both project participants and non-participants. However, the use of field demonstrations and training should be emphasized because they boost adoption probability and spillover effects.