Miombo woodlands support agriculture, biodiversity, and multiple ecosystem services across an extensive part of sub‐Saharan Africa. Miombo is frequently overutilised with deforestation and degradation resulting in significant land use and land cover change (LULCC). Understanding the drivers of LULCC is essential to achieving sustainable land management in miombo woodland regions. Within a remote miombo area of south‐west Tanzania in the Kipembawe Division, Mbeya Region, social survey and ecological data were used to identify the direct and indirect drivers of LULCC. Our findings show that tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) production results in an estimated annual deforestation rate of 4,134 ± 390 ha of undisturbed miombo woodland, of which 56.3 ± 11.8% is linked to the post‐harvest curing process. This deforestation represents 0.55 ± 0.06% of the wooded area of the Kipembawe Division. The perception of high incomes from tobacco cultivation has encouraged migration of both agriculturalists and pastoralists into the area, resulting in higher livestock numbers that lead to further degradation. Higher human populations need more woodland resources such as fuelwood and building materials and more farmland for food crops. Continued deforestation will reduce the long‐term profitability of tobacco cultivation due to a lack of fuel to cure the crop and could render production unviable. Action is urgently needed to conserve globally important biodiversity resources while enabling agricultural and pastoral activities to continue. Improved governance, together with sustainable land management strategies and diversification of livelihood strategies, can reduce dependence on tobacco cultivation and contribute to a sustainable future for this ecoregion.

Rural communities in sub‐Saharan Africa rely upon provisioning ecosystem services (ES) to support their livelihoods, yet in areas where rapid land use change is occurring the relationship between environmental change, provisioning ES availability and livelihoods is not fully understood. This relationship is explored here within a typical rural miombo woodland landscape in south‐west Tanzania, which is undergoing rapid land use change due to expanding tobacco cultivation. The types of provisioning ES used, who uses them, changes in their availability, and the possible future impacts of these changes were explored using a mixed‐method approach. Our findings identify 19 provisioning ES used by households regardless of economic status. Firewood, building materials, and fresh water are used by almost all households, and these are perceived to be declining in availability. Households identified this as a negative environmental impact of land use change and that provisioning ES loss would be ‘bad’ for their households. Given the multi‐purpose nature of miombo woodlands, an adaptive co‐management approach, which can achieve multiple objectives through encouraging participation, learning, and empowerment of local communities, could be an appropriate strategy to achieve sustainable land use management and maintain the provision of ES within miombo woodland landscapes of sub‐Saharan Africa.

Reduced tillage, permanent ground cover and crop diversification are the three core pillars of Conservation Agriculture (CA). We assess and compare on-farm effects of different practices related to the three pillars of CA on maize yields under ENSO-driven rainfall variability in Kenya and Malawi. Reduced tillage practices increased yields per hectare by 250 kg on average in Malawi under below-average rainfall conditions and by 700 kg in Kenya under above-average rainfall, but did not have any significant effect on yields under below-average rainfall conditions in Kenya. Ground cover had a positive impact on yields in Malawi (dry conditions) but not in Kenya (both dry and wet conditions), where mixed crop and livestock systems limited this practice. Crop diversification had positive impacts in Kenya (both dry and wet conditions), where maize-legume crop rotation is practiced, but not in Malawi where landholdings are too small to allow rotation. Our findings suggest that isolated CA techniques can have positive effects on yields even after only a few years of practice under variable rainfall conditions. This strengthens empirical evidence supporting the value of CA in resilience building of agricultural systems, and suggests that both full and partial adoption of CA practices should be supported in areas where climate change is leading to more variable rainfall conditions.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, climate change is leading to increasingly erratic weather patterns that challenge farming practices, particularly for smallholder farmers. Preparing farmers for these changes and increasing their resilience to extreme weather events is critical for food security in areas where populations are increasing. The El Niño event of 2015/16 led to drought conditions in Malawi which are expected to become more normal in the future. This resulted in widespread crop failure and the need for external food aid. The experiences of Malawian farmers during this time creates an opportunity to identify areas where adaptations in land management practices as part of resilience building initiatives can prepare farmers for future climates. This paper presents results of household surveys and interviews of 201 farmers from a case study in southern Malawi. Half of the farmers surveyed practice Conservation Agriculture (CA), a Climate Smart Agriculture technology that increased resilience to this drought event. The majority of households relied on agriculture for all their livelihood streams, indicating that diversification away from sole dependence on agriculture would increase resilience. Our study shows that poorer, female farmers are less likely to practice CA than wealthier male farmers. Results also illustrate that while farmers had access to seasonal weather forecasts, a key tool to guide land preparation and planting, they remained reluctant to believe them or to amend cropping or land management practices. Agricultural extension services within Malawi can play a vital role in preparing farmers for future extreme weather events and ensuring forecast communication link to predicted agricultural impacts and land management actions for building resilience into agricultural systems. Extension services need to focus on supporting poorer female farmers to adopt CA practices and providing farmers with the tools and knowledge to respond effectively to seasonal and sub-seasonal climate information.