Abstract:
The persistent food insecurity faced by smallholder farmers in Sub-
Saharan Africa is driven by limited access to productive resources, weak institutional
support, and increasing exposure to climate-related shocks. While agricultural
cooperatives are promoted to enhance food access and resilience, systematically
synthesized evidence on their role remains limited, especially in climate-sensitive
contexts. This review addresses that gap by examining how agricultural cooperatives
influence food security outcomes for smallholder farmers across Africa. The study
employed a systematic review design, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. A structured search
was conducted across six databases - Emerald Insight, Taylor & Francis Online,
Google Scholar, Africa Journals Online (AJOL), ScienceDirect, and CAB Direct,
covering literature from 2000 to 2024. From 3,241 initial results, 154 titles were
identified as relevant, and 35 studies were retained after abstract screening. Full-text
screening yielded seven peer-reviewed studies meeting inclusion criteria, selected
based on their focus on cooperative membership, food security outcomes, and
relevance to smallholders in climate-vulnerable settings. Findings from studies in
Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Ghana reveal that cooperative membership is
associated with improved food availability, dietary diversity, and reduced food
insecurity. These outcomes were linked to enhanced access to inputs, credit, training,
markets, and extension services. Some studies also reported contributions to climate
resilience, including improved irrigation, income diversification, and communitybased
environmental management. The extracted data were synthesized thematically
to identify key patterns and contextual variation. This review consolidates
fragmented evidence on the role of cooperatives in food-insecure and climatesensitive
farming systems. It highlights the conditions under which cooperatives are
most effective and offers practical insights for policymakers and development
practitioners on how to strengthen their impact through improved governance, better
market integration, and the incorporation of climate adaptation strategies into
cooperative models.