Contextualizing agroecological transitions: a multidimensional study of diverse farm categories in Malawi

Much of the literature on agroecological transitions employs a reductionist framing that underrepresents farm-level complexity, interactions among multiple agroecological elements, and socioecological context, limiting understanding of how diverse farmers within and across scales and settings experience agroecological systems. In contrast, agroecological transitions are inherently complex and multidimensional, requiring research approaches that capture this complexity. This study examined agroecological transitions across diverse farm categories in three contextually distinct sites in Malawi: Misuku, Lisasadzi, and Mbewe Extension Planning Areas. It involved 366 small-scale farmers and 12 in-depth interviews with medium- to large-scale farmers. Among small-scale farmers, the mean agroecological transition level was 13.4% across ten elements, with significant variation by location (p = 0.000). Youth-owned farms (≤35 years) had lower transition scores than adult-owned farms (>35 years) (12.3% vs. 13.9%, p = 0.004), while female-headed households slightly outperformed male-headed ones (13.9% vs. 13.3%, p = 0.278). Among the agroecology elements, co-creation and knowledge sharing scored highest (19.8%), whereas synergy, recycling, and efficiency scored lowest (