Sustainable agriculture is vital for food security and environmental conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where smallholder farmers encounter challenges like limited resources and market access. E-commerce platforms offer potential solutions by enhancing connectivity and sustainable practices. This review assesses the impact of such platforms on smallholder agriculture in the region, analysing the literature, reports, and case studies from 2010 to 2024 sourced from databases like Google Scholar and Scopus. Inclusion criteria focused on market access, economic outcomes, and sustainability. Findings indicate that e-commerce platforms notably improve market access, leading to better prices and reduced post-harvest losses. They also facilitate information flow, encouraging sustainable practices. However, challenges such as digital literacy and infrastructure deficits persist. E-commerce platforms positively influence sustainable agriculture in SSA by improving market access and supporting sustainable practices. Overcoming barriers through policy interventions and capacity-building is crucial for maximising these benefits. Further research is needed to explore long-term impacts and scalable models.

Indigenous and traditional food crops (ITFCs) are essential to initiatives aimed at increasing food and nutrition security and diversifying the food supply. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate the benefits associated with ITFCs, particularly for food security. The Vigna subterranea (Bambara groundnut), Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea), Colocasia esculenta (Taro), and Sinapis arvensis (Wild mustard) are examples of indigenous crops that were introduced for food security in Southern Africa. This review assessed the advantages of indigenous crops for food security and examined literature, reports, and case studies from 2009 to 2024 using academic databases, like Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR, Google Scholar, and AGRIS, to assess how indigenous crops impact on food security and the benefits thereof. The primary inclusion criteria were nutritional, economic and environmental impacts of these indigenous crops for food security in Southern Africa. The review concludes that maximizing these benefits requires removing obstacles through capacity-building and policy reforms. The need to integrate precision agriculture to increase production of indigenous crops should be considered and the coherent use of food crops associated with food security must be developed by the government. A comprehensive strategy centered on investment in sustainable farming and climate smart agriculture is recommended to ensure food security.

Climate change poses significant challenges to smallholder farmers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture is highly vulnerable to changing climatic conditions. This study examines the socioeconomic determinants influencing the adoption of strategies for adapting to climate change among smallholder farmers in Mbombela, South Africa. A quantitative research approach was employed, using structured questionnaires to collect data from 308 randomly selected smallholder farmers. Furthermore, the study utilised binary logistic regression to analyse the relationship between socioeconomic factors and the adoption of adaptation strategies. The results revealed that gender, age, income sources, access to climate information, and cooperative membership significantly influenced farmers’ adoption of adaptation strategies. Findings further showed that female farmers, older farmers, and those relying solely on farming income were less likely to adopt adaptation strategies, while younger farmers and those with diversified income sources were more likely to embrace adaptation strategies. Moreover, the study found that access to climate information and cooperative membership were negatively associated with the adoption of adaptation strategies. This negative association may be attributed to inefficiencies in current information dissemination, where climate-related information may not be tailored to the specific needs of farmers, or to cooperative structures that may not effectively facilitate knowledge sharing or collective action. The study concludes that targeted interventions, such as gender-sensitive policies, livelihood diversification, improved extension services, and strengthened cooperative structures, are essential to enhance smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity.

Finance, incubation, managerial support initiatives, and technological innovation have all been identified as major drivers of SMEs’ business location. Despite the importance of SMEs, little attention has been paid to business research regarding the impact of government support, business style, and entrepreneurial sustainability on SME activities in rural, semi-urban, and urban areas. Identifying the necessary support for SMEs in rural, semi-urban, and urban areas is critical for the government as well as stakeholders and SME owners in assessing their survival status and other goal-setting achievements. The article’s central question is whether government support, business style, and entrepreneurship sustainability affect SME operations differently depending on location (rural, semi-urban, or urban). The MANOVA technique was used for the analysis to determine whether there is a significant difference between groups on a composite dependent variable as well as the univariate results for each dependent variable separately. Because conducting a series of studies (ANOVA) reveals the possibility of an inflated Type 1 error, MANOVA is preferred. The test re-test reliability method (trustworthiness assessment of the questionnaire) and the Cronbach Alpha test (internal consistency of instrument sections) yielded satisfactory results of 0.70 and 0.875, respectively. Government support (GS), business style (BS), and entrepreneurial sustainability were used as dependent variables (SE). The independent variable was the business location. On the combined dependent variables, there was a statistically significant difference between SME location: F (3, 902) = 20.388, p = 0.001, Wilks’ Lambda = 0.88, partial eta squared = 0.06. When the results for the dependent variables were considered separately, they all reached statistical significance, using a Bonferroni adjusted alpha level of 0.017. BS: F (1, 904) = 13.29, p ≤ 001, partial eta squared = 0.03. GS: F (1, 904) = 30.28, p ≤ 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.06. SE: F (1, 904) = 8.08, p ≤ 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.02. The findings show that locational effects on government support have a knock-on effect on the business plan and long-term entrepreneurship. As a result, the government must reconsider its rural activities to ensure that support is distributed equitably across levels of location.

Financing has been identified as a major stumbling block to the effective launch and long-term success of SMEs, particularly in emerging economies. However, little is known about the impact of capital startups on SMEs’ performance in South Africa. Thus, the aim of this article is to compare differences in business success for three different levels of Capital startups and to determine the impact of capital startups on SMEs’ performance. The analysis was premised on a two-tail hypothesis test that the average weights of the three groups are different. The Cronbach Alpha test and the test–re-test reliability approach on the survey instrument indicated values of 0.70 and 0.875, respectively. A one-way between-groups analysis of variance was conducted startup. There was a statistically significant difference at the p < 0.05 level in scores for the three groups (F (2, 477) = 12.967 p = 0.0000). Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean scores for Group 1 (M = 19.93, SD = 6.343) were significantly different from Group 2 (M = 20.94, SD = 2.309) and Group 3 (M = 21.73, SD = 2.880). Despite reaching statistical significance, the actual difference in mean scores between the groups was quite small. The one-way ANOVA approach indicates that finance (startup capital) remains a significant impediment to the effective launch of service-providing SMEs. It is recommended that SMEs who want to raise startup capital must create a solid business plan or build a prototype to sell the idea. This will assist them in discussions with venture capitalists, angel investors, banks, or other financial institutions.

The semi-arid and dry regions of South Africa experience shortages of water resources, which poses major challenges to livelihoods exacerbated by climate change. Despite the importance of indigenous food crops in optimizing water conservation, limited research has been conducted on effective strategies for promoting indigenous crops. This paper explores the potential of indigenous crops in optimizing water conservation in South Africa. This review paper adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist to ensure transparency, rigor, and reproducibility. A comprehensive literature search was conducted across several databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. This review found that indigenous crops, such as sorghum and cowpeas, have innate traits that enable them to flourish in environments where water resources are limited. According to the findings of this study, these indigenous crops are resilient to drought and optimize water use efficiency. This review recommends the creation of a national database for indigenous climate-resilient food crops, which can act as an information hub for research and development. In maximizing the water use efficiency of indigenous crops, sustainable water management techniques remain critical. The results of this study have important implications for sustainable agriculture and water conservation in South Africa.