Millions of people rely on nature-rich farming systems for their subsistence and income. The contributions of nature to these systems are varied and key to their sustainability in the long term. Yet, agricultural stakeholders are often unaware or undervalue the relevance of those contributions, which can affect decisions concerning land management. There is limited knowledge on how farming practices and especially those that build more strongly on nature, including agroecological practices, may shape farmers’ livelihoods and well-being. We aim to determine the effect that farmer perception of contributions from nature, socioeconomic conditions, and farming practices, have on outcomes related to food security and human well-being. We conducted 467 household surveys in an agricultural growth corridor in rural Tanzania, which is also essential for nature conservation due to its high biodiversity and its strategic location between several protected areas encompassing wetland, forest, and grassland habitats. Results show that implementing more agroecological practices at farm scale has a positive effect on farmer well-being in the study landscape. Results also indicate that higher awareness of benefits from nature, as well as engagement with agricultural extension services, are associated with higher number of agroecological practices applied in the farm. This research confirms the relevance of capacity-building initiatives to scale up the uptake of agroecological practices in the tropics. It also shows, using empirical evidence, that farming practices taking advantage of nature’s contributions to people can positively affect food security and human well-being, even when those practices complement conventional ones, such as the use of synthetic inputs. Understanding the impact of agroecological farming on the well-being of smallholder farmers in the tropics paves the way for policy and program development that ensures global food demands are met in a sustainable way without compromising the well-being of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

数百万人依靠自然丰富的农业系统维持生计和收入。大自然对这些系统的贡献是多种多样的，并且是其长期可持续性的关键。然而，农业利益相关者往往没有意识到或低估了这些贡献的相关性，这可能会影响有关土地管理的决策。对于农业实践，尤其是那些更加依赖自然的农业实践，包括生态农业实践，如何影响农民的生计和福祉，人们的了解有限。我们的目标是确定农民对自然、社会经济条件和农业实践贡献的看法对粮食安全和人类福祉相关结果的影响。我们在坦桑尼亚农村的一个农业生长走廊进行了 467 个家庭调查，该走廊由于其高度的生物多样性以及位于包括湿地、森林和草原栖息地的多个保护区之间的战略位置，对于自然保护也至关重要。结果表明，在农场规模上实施更多的农业生态实践对研究景观中农民的福祉产生积极影响。结果还表明，对自然惠益的更高认识以及对农业推广服务的参与与农场中应用的农业生态实践的数量增加有关。这项研究证实了能力建设举措对于扩大热带地区生态农业实践的采用的重要性。它还利用经验证据表明，利用自然对人类贡献的农业做法可以对粮食安全和人类福祉产生积极影响，即使这些做法是对传统做法的补充，例如使用合成投入品。了解生态农业对热带小农福祉的影响，为制定政策和计划铺平道路，确保以可持续的方式满足全球粮食需求，同时又不损害世界上一些最弱势群体的福祉。