Climate-smart agricultural practices in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis of its impact on food and nutrition security

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as an approach for reorienting agricultural systems toward improved productivity, climate resilience, and food and nutrition security (FNS) amid increasing variability in rainfall and temperature across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the potential benefits of CSA should not be interpreted as an automatic consequence of adoption, as their realization depends on the effective implementation, intensity, continuity, and suitability of practices to local agroecological and socioeconomic conditions, as well as farmers' access to inputs, finance, and supportive institutions. Although CSA adoption has been extensively studied in the literature, its impact on FNS in SSA remains fragmented. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by employing a meta-regression analysis (MRA) of 114 systematically selected primary studies published on CSA and food and nutrition (FNS) in SSA between the years 2001 and 2023. These sampled primary studies were peer-reviewed and filtered by 3 professionals before being eligible for the MRA. The empirical findings from the MRA revealed that the adoption of CSA positively and significantly influenced FNS in SSA. More so, the impacts of CSA adoption on FNS of the households increase as the year of the sampled primary study increases. Additionally, Southern Africa has the highest study attributes and partial correlation coefficient estimates (0.38), which denotes the highest impact of CSA on food and nutrition security than other regions of SSA. These findings suggest that the FNS benefits of CSA are more likely to materialize when practices are appropriately selected, effectively implemented, and supported by adequate institutional, technical, and financial conditions. Thus, strengthening CSA-related investment should go beyond promoting adoption to improving farmers' capacity to implement and sustain appropriate practices within their specific contexts. Such an approach can enhance the contribution of CSA to resilient and sustainable food and nutrition systems in SSA.