Potential impacts of sustainable agricultural practices on smallholders' behavior in developing countries: Evidence from Togo

Abstract

To limit global warming, advocacy has increased in support of lowering greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, in agriculture, the use of compost and bio-fertilizer is increasingly promoted. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating how sustainable agricultural policies may influence land use and farm income in the context of global climatic change. Thus, a mathematical programming model with a representative risk-neutral and profit-maximizing economic agent is applied, using survey data on 423 farmers in Togo, a West African country. The findings indicate that a combination of a subsidy and a credit policy appear to be the best incentive to promote the adoption of sustainable practices and to increase farm income. Therefore, a combination of subsidy and credit policy should be implemented to foster the adoption of sustainable practices and improve farmers' welfare.