Small scale farmers’ preferences for sustainable intensification technologies

The cases of Lao PDR and Zimbabwe

DCE
BWS
Published

October 1, 2024

 

Abstract

Sustainable intensification (SI) of farming systems aims to increase food production from existing farmland in ways that have a lower environmental impact and maintain the food production capacity over time.

In recent years, I have worked in different projects in Lao PDR and Zimbabwe, that aimed at promoting sustainable intensification among small-scale farmers.

In Laos, integration to input and product markets, and the offering of mechanization has generated mono-cropping maize systems, whose sustainability is questioned. To explore the potential adoption of alternative agricultural systems, I teamed up with Juliette Lairez (UPR AIDA, CIRAD) to construct and run a survey where we would explore farmers ranking of objectives when making decisions (using a Best-Worst Scaling approach), and explore farmers’ preferences for technological attributes using a discrete choice experiment (DCE).

In Zimbabwe, communal farmers of the Northeastern region

Research outputs

  • Lairez, J., Jourdain, D., Lopez-Ridaura, S., Syfongxay, C., & Affholder, F. (2023). Multicriteria assessment of alternative cropping systems at farm level. A case with maize on family farms of South East Asia. Agricultural Systems, 212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2023.103777

  • Jourdain, D., Lairez, J., & Affholder, F. (2022). Identify Lao farmers’ goals and their ranking using best–worst scaling experiment and scale‐adjusted latent class models. Journal of Multi-criteria Decision Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1002/mcda.1785

  • Jourdain, D., Lairez, J., Striffler, B., & Lundhede, T. (2022). A choice experiment approach to evaluate maize farmers’ decision-making processes in Lao PDR. Journal of Choice Modelling, 44, 100366. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocm.2022.100366

  • Jourdain, D., Lairez, J., Striffler, B., & Affholder, F. (2020). Farmers’ preference for cropping systems and the development of sustainable intensification: a choice experiment approach. Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, 2020(101), 417-437. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41130-020-00100-4

  • Jourdain, D., Lairez, J., Striffler, B., & Affholder, F. (2018, 13-14/12/2018). Farmers preference for cropping systems and the development of sustainable intensification: a choice experiment approach. 12es Journées de Recherches en Sciences Sociales, Nantes (FR).