Organic farming improves developing world livelihoods (#journal)

Can organic and resource-conserving agriculture improve livelihoods? A synthesis

Organic agriculture initiatives have been common in the tropics for decades, but surprisingly few data are available on their performance. This synthesis examined 31 documented cases of African and Latin American farmers converting from conventional or organic-by-default systems to ORCA that assessed their impact on livelihoods. Yield improved in 19 of 25 cases, food security improved in seven of eight cases, and net income improved in 19 of 23 cases. However, it is not possible to generalize from these results due to the small sample, selection bias and inconsistent methods and definitions across the cases.