Validating Soy Use Case Advisory tool recommendations with farmers in the Chinyanja Triangle

Poor access to well-coordinated and informed advisory services, markets and lack of incentives are some of the factors that affect agricultural production in smallholder farming systems. Furthermore, poor access to and use of improved agronomic solutions that address production bottlenecks such as poor timing of planting, poor soil fertility, inappropriate varieties and disease/pest control, feature as major production challenges in soyabean production among the region’s smallholders. Approaches that take agronomy to scale and provide location and context-specific solutions to farmers facing poor extension services, could provide a viable route to enhanced soyabean production in the region. It is important to understand the potential impact of digital agronomic advisory tools across different biophysical and socio-economic conditions to assess their robustness and feasibility as well as their potential as scaling tools in the region. Thus, this study's objective was to validate the recommendations derived from the soybean advisory tool on planting window, variety, and site-specific nutrient requirement.