The potential of organic agriculture and agroecological approaches for improving food security in Africa is a controversial topic in global discussions. While there is a number of meta-analyses on the environmental, agronomic and financial performance of organic farming, most of the underlying data stems from on-station field trials from temperate regions. Data from sub-Sahara Africa in particular, as well as detailed real-farm data is scarce. How organic farming is implemented in sub-Saharan Africa and how it performs in a smallholder context remains poorly understood. We applied a novel observational two-factorial research design, which allowed to evaluate the impacts of i) interventions for introducing organic agriculture and ii) specific organic management practices on 1,645 farms from five case studies in Ghana and Kenya, which we closely monitored for 24 months. Among the farmers who have been exposed to the interventions, we found heterogeneous adoption of organic agriculture principles, depending on the intervention. Furthermore, we found rather passive than active organic management among farmers. Most yields and gross margins under organic management remained at similar levels as the conventional values in four of the case studies. In one case study, however, coffee, maize and macadamia nut yields increased by 127–308% and farm-level gross margins over all analysed crops by 292%. Pooling our data across all case studies, we found significantly higher (+144%) farm-level gross margins on organically managed farms than on conventional farms. This indicates the potential of organic and agroecological approaches if implemented well. Based on our observations, we argue for improving the implementation of organic agriculture projects in settings with smallholder farmers. Limited capacities, lack of appropriate inputs and market access are major agronomic and institutional challenges to be addressed. Furthermore, we argue for supporting a differentiated debate about which types of organic farming are really desirable by classifying approaches to organic farming according to i) their intention to work organically and ii) the degree of following the organic principles. This will support the design and implementation of targeted policy interventions for stimulating sustainability of farming systems and rural development.

有机农业和农业生态方法在改善非洲粮食安全方面的潜力是全球讨论中一个有争议的话题。虽然有许多元- 对有机农业的环境、农艺和财务绩效的分析，大部分基础数据来自温带地区的现场实地试验。特别是来自撒哈拉以南非洲的数据以及详细的实际农场数据很少。有机农业如何在撒哈拉以南非洲实施以及它在小农环境中的表现如何仍知之甚少。我们应用了一种新颖的观察性双因素研究设计，该设计允许评估 i) 引入有机农业的干预措施和 ii) 来自加纳和肯尼亚的五个案例研究的 1,645 个农场的特定有机管理实践的影响，我们密切监测了 24个月。在接触过干预措施的农民中，我们发现根据干预措施不同，采用了有机农业原则。此外，我们发现农民之间的有机管理是被动的，而不是主动的。在四个案例研究中，有机管理下的大多数产量和毛利率保持在与传统值相似的水平。然而，在一项案例研究中，咖啡、玉米和澳洲坚果的产量增加了 127-308%，所有分析作物的农场毛利率增加了 292%。汇总所有案例研究的数据，我们发现有机管理农场的农场毛利率明显高于传统农场（+144%）。这表明如果实施得当，有机和农业生态方法的潜力。根据我们的观察，我们主张在有小农的环境中改进有机农业项目的实施。容量有限，缺乏适当的投入和市场准入是需要解决的主要农艺和体制挑战。此外，我们主张通过根据 i）有机耕作的意图和 ii）遵循有机原则的程度对有机耕作方法进行分类来支持关于哪种类型的有机耕作真正可取的差异化辩论。这将支持设计和实施有针对性的政策干预措施，以刺激农业系统和农村发展的可持续性。