Impact of smallholder farmers’ welfare through participation in on-farm regional projects in East Africa

Abstract

This paper uses panel data from 1,160 smallholder farmers, especially participants and non-participants in twenty-three regional projects from five countries in East Africa – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. In this paper, regional projects mean projects implemented jointly in at least three countries, thereby providing sustainable regional public goods. Propensity score matching analysis is used to determine the difference in net benefits accrued to the on-farm participants compared to non-participants. The propensity scores show that participants have overall higher crop and livestock productivity, enhanced household income, increased soil and water management, and access to biofortified foods compared to non-participants. These findings indicate that regional projects can catalyse the achievement of smallholder farmers’ food and nutrition security, besides enhancing achievements of the African Union Commission’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).