This forum paper provides a synthesis and discussion of 14 categories of lessons learned from experiences for achieving farm‐level impact with smallholder farmers in Africa. These lessons were reported in a symposium hosted by the Agronomy in Africa community of the American Society of Agronomy. The lessons, listed in order of frequency of reporting, were the need to: have adequate infrastructure and services; enable spontaneous adoption; have multi‐disciplinary and institutional collaboration; build on previous adoption of good agronomic practices (GAP); have farmer participation in research; encourage and learn from smallholder adaptations; make GAP promotion demand‐driven; allow GAP choices; address challenges and trade‐offs to GAP adoption; enable GAP‐by‐GAP adoption; reconcile conflicting messages; offer adequate profit potential with acceptable risk; reduce labor needs, especially for women; and build capacity for farming system improvement along the chain from farmer to research. The lessons are discussed and conclusions are reported.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20363

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Mateete Bekundahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7297-9383

https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20363

Natural Resource Management

Capacity Development; Maize; Natural Resource Management; Smallholder Farmers

Sustainable Agriculture; Intensification; Agronomic Practices; Farming Systems; Agricultural Practices; Smallholders

Africa; Africa South of Sahara; East Africa

Ethiopia; Kenya; Malaysia; Tanzania

Headquarters and Western Africa Hub

Agronomy Journal