The dawn of a legume revolution in Southern Africa: trends, drivers, and implications

African agriculture faces multiple challenges, dampening its contribution to economic development, food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and resilience. Legumes are a necessary component of diversified maize-based cropping systems that are more resilient against climate change and can better deliver food and nutrition security while building soil fertility. Despite this potential, the uptake of legumes by smallholders in southern Africa remains restricted to small areas compared to areas under maize, and the uptake of improved legume germplasm remains low. However, amid rising chemical fertilizer costs and the increasing need to restore soil fertility, there is anecdotal evidence suggesting that smallholders are increasingly cultivating more legumes. This paper assesses the extent of changes in legume cultivation, drivers, and consequences on food security and welfare using secondary data spanning a 10-year period (2012–2023) and household survey data collected in 2023 from 1,100 farmers randomly selected from 14 districts in Malawi and Zambia. The total area under maize and legume cultivation increased between 2012 and 2023 in both countries. However, the share of cultivated land under maize declined, while the share under legumes increased over the same period. Proportionately, the area cultivated under legumes increased by 5percentage points in Malawi and 14 percentage points in Zambia between 2012 and 2023. About half of the surveyed farmers (47% in Malawi and 50% in Zambia) indicated they were cultivating more legumes in 2023 than before. The main factors driving the expansion of legume cultivation included the perception that legumes have higher producer prices relative to those of other crops, and the perception of increasing fertilizer costs. Cultivating more legumes was associated with higher income, especially for the low-income households, and higher expenditure in the mid quantiles. We conclude that there is a dawn of a quiet “legume revolution” in southern Africa. Significant technological innovations, e.g., increasing availability of improved germplasm, accompanied by institutional and policy innovations are critical success factors. There is also an urgent need to address the underdeveloped and informal legume seed systems, improve market access and postharvest handling and storage, foster value addition and encourage the adoption of improved agronomic practices. Strengthening the inclusion of legumes in national subsidy programs can contribute to improved soil fertility and overall farm productivity and environmental sustainability, while increasing farm income.