Designing an incentive system to promote the adoption of sustainable soil health management practices among smallholder farmers in northern Ghana

Bibliographic Data

ID11464321
AuthorsSolomon Amoabeng-Nimako (0000-0001-6907-249X, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, corresponding author), P T M Ingenbleek (0000-0001-8793-716X, Wageningen University & Research), Saa Dittoh (0000-0001-9048-7809, University for Development Studies), Amadou Gouzaye (0000-0003-1867-1438, OCP Group (Morocco)), Prem Bindraban, P S Bindraban (0000-0001-5221-8763, Africa Rice Center)
Year2026
Volume161
Pages107847
Publication date2026-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Use Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0264-8377 • E-ISSN: 1873-5754
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.landusepol.2025.107847
OpenAlexW4416280522
LanguageEN
References cited90

Declining soil health threatens smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, undermining food security and the sustainability of agri-food systems. Although sustainable soil health management (SSHM) offers proven solutions, its adoption remains limited due to systemic barriers constraining farmers’ ability to access, combine, and benefit from essential resources. While recent scholarship calls for holistic, systems-based incentives, empirical research that designs such incentive systems remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by designing a farmer-centric SSHM incentive system tailored to the institutional realities of smallholders. Grounded in farmers’ expressed preferences, the study translates largely conceptual recommendations into concrete system designs. Drawing on an exploratory study, five dimensions of smallholder market systems were translated as attributes of an incentive system. A rating-based conjoint experiment with 744 maize and soybean farmers in northern Ghana assessed preferences across these attributes. The findings reveal four insights: 1)Farmers prefer bundled arrangements, such as integrating sustainability support with input credit and linking them to buyer contracts. 2)They follow a clear preference hierarchy, prioritizing incentives that reduce adoption barriers before those that stimulate motivation or enhance skills. 3)Two distinct farmer segments emerge, one oriented toward market access and the other toward production support, reflecting different adoption priority logics. 4)Farmers support system-based incentives that are anchored in private sector-led coordination. These findings point to clear policy directions. Governments should create enabling conditions for bundled service creation and delivery, agribusinesses and financial institutions should expand input-output-linked services to incorporate sustainability packages, and multi-stakeholder solutions should be organized around private coordination under regulatory oversight. • A farmer-centric incentive system for sustainable soil health is developed in northern Ghana. • Conjoint analysis with 744 farmers captures preferences for incentive system attributes. • Farmers show a clear preference hierarchy, prioritizing barrier-reducing incentives over motivational ones. • Two distinct farmer segments emerge with different preference logics: market-oriented and production-oriented. • Private-sector coordination is preferred as the anchor for system-based incentives

Agriculture · Conceptual framework · Empirical research · Food security · Incentive · Private sector · Scholarship · Sustainability · Sustainable agriculture · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture · Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis

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