Legume integration in smallholder farming systems for food security and resilience to climate change

What is it about?

This study underscores the complex challenges confronting smallholder farmers, with particular emphasis on the persistent problem of household food insecurity. A central issue arises from the imbalance between family size and the limited cultivable landholdings, a mismatch that severely constrains the capacity of rural households to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. Within these contexts, farming systems are typically dominated by priority crops that ensure caloric stability, while legumes occupy a critical role as the primary and most accessible source of dietary protein. Legumes not only contribute significantly to household nutrition but also enhance soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation, thereby offering ecological benefits within smallholder systems. Despite these advantages, legume production in the region remains hampered by a combination of agronomic, socioeconomic, and institutional barriers, including limited access to quality seed, inadequate extension services, soil fertility depletion, and vulnerability to climatic variability. Collectively, these constraints reinforce cycles of low productivity and food insecurity, while also highlighting the urgent need for targeted interventions and policy frameworks that support sustainable legume production and, by extension, improved nutritional security for smallholder farming communities.

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