Promoting sustainable agriculture in Africa through ecosystem‑based farm management practices: evidence from Ghana

The type of farming practices employed within an agro-ecosystem have some effects on its health and sustainable agricultural production. Thus, it is important to encourage farmers to make use of ecosystem-friendly farming practices if agricultural production is to be sustainable and this requires the identification of the critical success factors. This paper therefore examined the factors to consider in promoting sustainable agriculture production in Africa through ecosystem-based farm management practices (EBFMPs) using Ghana as a case study. The study employed mixed methods—qualitative and quantitative techniques. Data were collected through key informant interviews, focus group discussions and a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 300 households. The Poisson and negative binomial models were employed to determine the factors that influence farmers’ intensity of adoption of EBFMPs. Eight (8) EBFMPs were used in the paper as the dependent variable, which are organic manure application, conservation of vegetation, conservative tillage, mulching, crop rotation, intercropping with legumes, efficient drainage system and soil bunding.