Agroforestry and integrated nutrient management as climate-smart agro-technologies for soil health and climate change mitigation: a review on African and Asian regions

Climate change particularly prevalent in semi-arid areas affects crop productivity negatively. The objective of this systematic review was to explore the role of agroforestry and integrated nutrient management (INM) as climate-smart agrotechnology in improving soil health, mitigating climate change, and ensuring food security in semi-arid areas. A total of 2526 articles were retrieved using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). Removal of duplicates and unmatching keywords, leaving a total of 1210 articles; further screening to meet papers published from 2020 to 2025 left a total of 167 papers. Snowballing of references added 33 articles, making a total of 200 eligible articles that were added to the study. Our findings revealed agroforestry practices such as improved fallow, biomass transfer, and alley cropping are effective in improving soil health by reducing bulk density, adding soil organic matter, and enhancing soil structure. Agroforestry trees are mostly legumes that improve nitrogen availability through biological nitrogen fixation and exchangeable cations by deep capture. Additionally, agroforestry sequesters carbon, reduces emissions of greenhouse gases, and improves soil and water conservation, which mitigates climate change and supports plant growth. Moreover, INM improves soil health and mitigates climate change through restoring soil fertility and conserving moisture that supports plants during dry spells. Integration of agroforestry and INM supports climate-resilient agriculture and facilitates ecosystem services in dry regions. Moreover, this reduces the use of synthetic fertilisers and reduces soil disturbances. Therefore, agroforestry and INM are key drivers of climate-smart agriculture, and improve crop productivity in semi-arid areas.