A new Campbell review finds the evidence about whether training, innovation and new technology interventions help 
African smallholder farmers’ economic outcomes and food security to be inconclusive. However, some innovations,
such as bio-fortified food crops, do improve farmers’ livelihoods.
The majority of the rural poor in Africa live by farming, yet since they lack resources, their farming remains at a subsistence level.
Support to African smallholders has been growing through interventions to improve both household income and food security.
Providing access to innovation, new technologies and training to farmers in Africa is seen as a holistic and cost-effective way to increase rural development and reduce poverty.
Agricultural input innovations such as biofortified food crops are the most common form of innovation in the study. Orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), a Vitamin A rich staple food, is the most promising, yielding positive effects on nutrition. Input innovations and training might increase the nutritional status and monetary value of farmers’ harvests. So while the findings regarding the effects of the reviewed smallholder farming interventions on farmers’ economic outcomes and food security were inconclusive, this review shows efforts to support smallholder farmers have the potential to improve their livelihoods.The authors conclude that more rigorous research is required.