Sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) remain the panacea to addressing challenges relating to climate change, low rainfall, and low agricultural productivity in many rural parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These practices include but are not limited to crop rotation, intercropping, cover cropping, and conservation tillage. The aforementioned practices have been scientifically proven to enhance crop productivity while safeguarding environmental resources. This review assesses the trends, effectiveness, and challenges associated with the adoption and utilization of SAPs among smallholder farmers in the SSA region, analyzing the literature and reports from 2000 to 2024 sourced from databases such as Google Scholar and Scopus. The inclusion criteria focused on key concepts such as SAPs, adoption, and challenges. Findings indicate that crop rotation, intercropping, improved seed varieties, manure, and mulching are among the most adopted practices. In reality, practices such as conservation tillage, agroforestry, and water harvesting systems remain the least adopted practices in many rural parts of SSA. The review further reveals that challenges relating to land tenure insecurity, lack of knowledge, training, and limited access to financial institutions all have a direct or indirect influence on farmers’ choice of adoption. Overcoming the aforementioned challenges through policy interventions and capacity building is vital for improved crop productivity and rural livelihoods.

Sustainable farming practices (SFPs) are often touted as vehicles for improving crop productivity and the livelihoods of many rural households. However, SFP’s adoption rates remain persistently low, especially among smallholder farmers in many rural parts of developing countries. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the adoption of SFPs amongst smallholder crop farmers in Mbombela, South Africa. A simple random sampling procedure was employed to collect data from 294 farmers who were solely specializing in crop production. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and the analysis was performed with descriptive statistics. A multivariate probit model was adopted to determine the socio-economic determinants of adopting SFPs. The findings of this study confirm that SFPs are essential for addressing the abiotic and biophysical challenges that impede crop productivity, as farmers view these practices as highly beneficial in their farming activities. Also, the results reveal that crop rotation was the most adopted practice, whereas intercropping and conservation tillage were the least adopted practices in the surveyed area. Furthermore, the study showed that “gender, years of education, off-farm income, annual income, marital status, and satisfaction with extension services” were significant socio-economic attributes that do indeed influence the adoption of SFPs by smallholder crop farmers in the surveyed area. These findings underscore the need for the Ministry of Agriculture and rural development stakeholders to address issues relating to economic incentives, improve farmers’ perception of SFPs, provide financial literacy and support programs, and intensify efforts to promote underutilized practices.

Inroduction: Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices are increasingly promoted as a means of enhancing rural livelihoods by improving agricultural productivity, increasing farmers’ income, strengthening household food security, and promoting environmental sustainability across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite this, the adoption of SLM practices among smallholders remains stubbornly low and highly variable across SSA. Accordingly, understanding the impacts, drivers, and barriers to the adoption of these practices among smallholders is crucial to ensure increased adoption and sustainable agricultural development. Methods: Using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, 397 records were retrieved, of which 82 peer-reviewed studies published in English between 2010 and 2025 were selected for review. Results: The results reveal that SLM practices such as crop rotation, agroforestry, manure application, and cover cropping contribute positively to environmental sustainability, agricultural productivity, household income, and food security. However, the magnitude of these benefits, as well as adoption rates, varies considerably across agroecological zones, farming systems, and institutional environments, underscoring the highly context-dependent effectiveness of SLM practices. The review further demonstrates that integrated adoption of multiple SLM practices generally yields greater livelihood benefits than individual practices, due to complementary effects on soil fertility, water management, and crop productivity. Additionally, 25 factors influencing SLM adoption were identified. Among these, institutional factors, particularly access to extension services, SLM training, information, and social networks, together with farmers’ socio-demographic characteristics, and exposure to climate variability, emerged as the most consistent drivers of adoption. Conversely, structural constraints, including gender inequalities, insecure land tenure, and high input costs, were consistently associated with lower adoption. Discussion: These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and highlight the urgent need for context-specific interventions, gender-responsive extension services, as well as subsidized and targeted SLM voucher programmes for resource poor farmers. Such interventions may promote the adoption and sustained use of SLM practices across SSA.

The cultivation of indigenous crops (ICs) has long been regarded as an essential social and economic activity for rural households, providing a diverse and consistent supply of products and benefits. Despite this, ICs have not been sufficiently integrated into stable diets and remain underutilized across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Accordingly, this review examines the utilization trends and contributions of ICs to rural agrarian households in SSA. A systematic search following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework was conducted across two databases and identified 76 relevant studies. The findings highlight that rural socio-economic conditions, including poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, necessitate the utilization of these crops. The review further reveals that while some rural agrarian households have made efforts to utilize these crops to improve their livelihoods through food provision, income generation, medicinal support, and ecological resilience, various constraints limit their utilization and full potential. These constraints include limited market access, a lack of appropriate-quality seeds, inadequate production knowledge, and insufficient government support and investment. These findings underscore the need to implement policies, institutional frameworks, and increased investment to address these constraints and promote the widespread utilization of these crops, thereby contributing to improved rural livelihoods across SSA.