Resilient Agriculture against Rural Poverty in West Africa
- Leti Kleyn
- Oct 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 23
Across rural West Africa, smallholder farmers cultivate the soil with determination, yet many remain trapped in poverty. Their resilience is constantly tested by degraded soils, erratic rainfall, suffocating weeds, and limited access to innovation and credit. This year's International Day for the Eradication of Poverty challenges us to look away from short-term aid and toward systems that enable farmers to earn their way out of poverty through sustainable, adaptive agriculture.
Resilient Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods
Agriculture remains the lifeline of many West African economies, engaging over 60% of the workforce in the sector. However, low productivity and climatic shocks keep millions of smallholders below the poverty line. The combined stress of weed infestation, soil infertility, and climate variability drains farmers' yields and income. Traditional weed management is time-consuming and costly, placing a disproportionate burden on women and youth who form the backbone of rural labour.
However, integrated solutions that combine climate-resilient crop management, improved weed management practices, and farmer-led innovation have demonstrated that it is possible to tackle poverty not solely through subsidies, but through knowledge, resilience, and inclusiveness. Adaptation practices such as timely weeding, cover crops, crop diversification, and conservation tillage allow farmers to stabilise yields and reduce the cost of inputs. They generate food and financial security when complemented with training and market access.
Bridging Science and Policy
Eradication of poverty in agriculture is not simply about productivity, but about systems change. Research under the FAR-LeaF programme, including Dr Falola-Olasunkanmi's work on resilient cropping systems and adaptive weed management, shows that innovation thrives when research is connected to policy frameworks and community realities.
Governments and development partners can accelerate this transformation by:
Embedding climate-smart weed and crop management in national agricultural extension curricula;
Funding community-led demonstration plots that showcase low-cost resilient practices;
Strengthening women and youth cooperatives that translate research outputs into business;
Incentivising the private sector to supply appropriate technologies (e.g. small mechanised weeders, improved seeds) to smallholders.
Such policy alignment enhances farm productivity and fosters the social and economic capital that makes rural livelihoods resilient in the long term.
Scaling What Works
Farmers participating in participatory research trials in certain parts of Nigeria are already seeing tangible results, including reduced time spent on weeding, higher yields, and improved household nutrition. Women's groups that previously relied on manual labour now use low-cost innovations to manage weeds efficiently, freeing up time for produce processing or sales. This success demonstrates that smallholder empowerment is not merely theoretical; it occurs where research, policy, and community action converge. Scaling these up requires investment in strategic capacity building of farmers, research-extension linkages, and rural infrastructure. No intervention should be considered a cost, but rather as an investment in the foundation for national poverty eradication strategies.
Conclusion
Poverty is not inevitable; it is a policy outcome that can be reversed through intentional, science-driven agricultural transformation. We create more productive farms and empowered communities by promoting resilient cropping systems and adaptive weed management. West Africa's smallholders possess the ingenuity and resilience to feed the region; they require a tailored mix of support, enabling policies, and sustained commitment to achieve this goal.
Dr Judith Adejoke Falola-Olasunkanmi
