Tropentag, September 16 - 18, 2026, Göttingen "Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures"

Is crop diversification associated with farm-level agricultural sustainability? Evidence from smallholders in irrigated areas of Kyrgyzstan

¹Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Agricultural Policy Department, Germany
²Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Inst. of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Germany

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between crop diversification and farm-level sustainability outcomes among smallholder farmers in Kyrgyzstan. Using survey data collected from 410 heads of smallholders in 2024, the study looks whether crop diversification is nonlinearly associated with agricultural sustainability and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. We measure crop diversification using the inverse Simpson diversity index, and sustainability as a composite indicator of environmentally oriented farm management practices. To address potential endogeneity in farmers’ crop diversification decisions, the study employs seemingly unrelated regression built on the control function approach to jointly estimate two interrelated sustainability outcomes, while accounting for unobserved farm and farmer-level heterogeneity. The results reveal a nonlinear inverted U-shaped relationship between crop diversification and both sustainability outcomes. Low and high levels of crop diversification are associated with lower environmental sustainability and narrower adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and technologies. The findings suggest that excessive diversification may increase management complexity and reduce sustainability gains. Overall, the study provides new empirical evidence from Central Asia on the relationship between crop diversification, and sustainable agricultural management.

Keywords: Control function approach, crop diversification, Kyrgyzstan, seemingly unrelated regression, smallholder farmers, sustainable agricultural practices

Contact Address: Marlen Tynaliev, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Agricultural Policy Department, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany, e-mail: tynalieviamo.de