Reframing Innovation in African Agriculture: Why OFE is the Game-Changer

A recent review makes a grounded evidence-based call for action for farmer-centric on-farm experimentation (OFE) as a transformative agricultural innovation system for Africa. OFE brings science back into real-world complexity while putting farmers front and center in shaping their futures. Against the backdrop of the African Union Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan and similar initiatives, OFE might just be the missing link: a credible, scalable and farmer-owned pathway to resilient agricultural transformation.

Agricultural transformation in Africa has been of long-standing interest―yet it has proved a relentless challenge. Despite decades of investment, the continent continues to report comparatively poor outcomes, among which are stagnant crop yields and poor soil fertility. With maize yields at 2 t/ha, far below the global standard of 6 t/ha, this productivity crisis places food security and rural livelihoods at stake.

In a recent systematic review published in Elsevier’s Agricultural Systems, African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI) researchers and their partners provide clarity towards tackling this problem. While critiquing historical approaches, the authors suggest an alternate route through on-farm experimentation (OFE), a farmer-driven approach to innovation and revitalization of agricultural systems in Africa.

Traditionally, a top-down technology transfer paradigm has been most common to deliver agricultural innovation (i.e., from scientists to extension agents to farmers). However, Africa’s farming systems remain complex and varied, and are often overly constrained by weak institutions, fragmented markets, and insecure land tenure.

“Traditional innovation models pay little consideration to the contextual realities farmers face and thus contribute to the low uptake of agricultural technologies and minimize the impacts of research interventions in farming systems,” states the study’s Lead Author and APNI Farming Systems Scientist, Dr. Ivan Adolwa.

Over time, a variety of participatory approaches have been brought in [i.e., Innovation Platforms, Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS), and Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D)] to enhance collaboration among stakeholders and more precisely equate research with development goals. These models have fostered a higher level of engagement; however, they rarely manage to place farmers squarely at the center of the innovation process or to channel co-learning into recognizable change that is scalable and embedded in farmers’ realities.

OFE, however, repositions farmers in the central role of co-creators rather than passive recipients of knowledge. It provides farmers with opportunities to test agronomic practices, adapt them to their circumstances, and refine them under the guidance of scientists, extension agents, and fellow farmers, all within their own farms. Hence, it is a participatory process that is firmly rooted in scientific rigor and data-based decision-making.

OFE is also accommodative of solutions of relevance to each farmer’s reality. It facilitates the generation of suitable evidence in respect of crop yields and input responses, as well as economic outcomes, labor requirements, and environmental benefits. Thus, in co-learning, processes use formal scientific methods combined with local experience and knowledge. As the review shows, multiple types of value are created through OFE: financial capital through better returns, human capital through new skills, social capital through joint learning, natural capital through land stewardship, and institutional capital as farmers begin influencing markets and policies.

“The Kenyan and Ivorian pilot projects of APNI exemplify the ways in which OFE functions,” explains Adolwa. “Farmers in one case used yield mapping tools to determine underperforming plots. By discussing results with researchers, localized issues such as shade from trees or poor manure distribution were pinpointed. Such causes that would probably not be apparent to top-down models. Such interactions, which were geared to improving productivity, also supported farmer confidence and trust in science.”

OFE can connect agronomy with food systems thinking linking productivity with salient issues such as profitability, risk, sustainability, and nutrition. In addressing end-users’ objectives, adapting to local context, and empowering farmers to interpret data and make the results known to their communities, OFE facilitates a process where innovation diffuses on its own through localized networks and the use of digital tools.

Amongst the review’s conclusions, three enabling conditions are highlighted to fully unlock OFE’s potential: the institutional recognition of farmer-led research, capacity building among all stakeholders, and sustainable models not tied to donor funding. When farmers see value, they invest, making OFE an engine for endogenous and durable change.

Acknowledgment
This summary was extracted from the article published by I.S. Adolwa¹, S. Zingore², J. Mutegi¹, M. McNee³, B.A. Akorede⁴, D. Masidza¹, T.S. Murrell², S.M. Ndungu^5,6, E. Nchanji⁵, S. Cook⁷, T. Oberthür², 2025. Delivering nutrient management impact through farmer-centric research: a systematic review of innovation systems in African smallholder systems, Agricultural Systems 229:104416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104416

The authors respectively represent: ¹African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Nairobi, Kenya; ²APNI, Benguérir, Morocco; ³Independent Consultant, Brisbane, Australia; ⁴Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Benguérir, Morocco; ⁵International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nairobi, Kenya; ⁶World Vegetable Center, Shanhua, Taiwan; ⁷Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.