Soils, woody plants and farm-household wealth: Context-specific links in Southern Africa

Smallholder farmers in Southern Africa cope with low soil fertility and challenging field maintenance. We analysed links between household wealth, cropland soil quality, and field management (fertilization, field clearing) in Zambia and Namibia. We hypothesised that wealthier farmers cultivate higher-quality land because of preferential access, greater resources, and better field management. This pattern holds only partly. In Zambia, homogeneity of inherent soil properties limits disparities in land distribution and soil quality across wealth classes. Higher yields among wealthier farmers were primarily attributable to soil fertility management rather than differences in inherent soil quality. In Namibia, natural soil heterogeneity contributed to unequal land distribution, with wealthier households farming inherently better soils with higher clay, silt, and organic carbon contents. However, these households invested less in field management; thus, higher soil fertility did not result in higher yields. Among wealthy households, off-farm income appears to decouple agricultural productivity from land quality and management.