再生农业实践综述（英）

Regenerative Agriculture in Practice: A Review

Introduction Climate change poses significant threats to agricultural productivity through extreme weather events and loss of biodiversity. Since 1961, anthropogenic climate change has led to a 21% decline in global agricultural Total Factor Productivity (TFP), with Africa experiencing reductions of 26-34%. This decline exacerbates poverty in developing countries. To address these challenges, there is growing interest in regenerative agriculture, a farming approach focused on restoring and improving soil and ecosystem health.

Overview of Regenerative Agriculture Regenerative agriculture involves practices such as reduced-tillage or zero-tillage, vegetation cover, intercropping, using compost and organic waste instead of chemical fertilizers, and integrating livestock. These practices aim to enhance soil health, increase crop yields, and reduce carbon emissions. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of regenerative agriculture in achieving these goals is limited.

Empirical Evidence and Challenges Several studies have attempted to evaluate the impact of regenerative agriculture:

• Piñeiro et al. (2020) found that short-term economic benefits are the primary driver for adopting sustainable practices.
• Meta-analyses by Pittelkow et al. (2015), Bai et al. (2019), and Ogle et al. (2019) examined the effectiveness of regenerative practices, highlighting the importance of local climate conditions.
• Suri and Udry (2022) reviewed the economic literature on technological progress in African agriculture, emphasizing the heterogeneity in returns due to local market and climate conditions.

Despite these efforts, there is a need for more comprehensive evaluations of regenerative agriculture's impact. Key challenges include the trade-off between short-term losses and long-term gains, smallholder farmer profitability, and market failures in technology adoption. Payments for ecosystem services, while still in development, could incentivize farmers to adopt regenerative practices, providing additional income.

Barriers to Large-Scale Adoption

• Trade-off Between Short-Term Loss and Long-Term Gains: Farmers may face initial economic losses when transitioning to regenerative practices.
• Smallholder Farmer Profitability: Smallholders often struggle with financial constraints and market access.
• Market Failures: Common market failures in technology adoption hinder widespread adoption.

In Africa, these challenges are particularly acute due to the region's unique socio-economic and climatic conditions.

Opportunities and Challenges in Africa Payments for ecosystem services hold promise as a mechanism to incentivize farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture, although careful design is necessary. Further research is needed to better understand the causal impacts of regenerative agriculture and to inform policy recommendations.

Conclusion The paper highlights the need for more empirical evidence and comprehensive evaluations of regenerative agriculture's impact. Open questions remain, particularly regarding the effectiveness of different regenerative practices under varying local conditions and the optimal design of payments for ecosystem services. Future research should address these gaps to support informed policy decisions.

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This summary provides a structured overview of the key points discussed in the paper, focusing on the definitions, challenges, and opportunities associated with regenerative agriculture.