Farmer’s knowledge and perceptions of biochar: A systematic review

Biochar is a product made from the burning of plant waste materials, applied to the soil to enhance them. It has economic and environmental benefits, such as carbon sequestration, reduced emission of greenhouse gases, lower fertilizer application, and higher yields. Farmers can produce biochar on their farms or in industrial pyrolysis units. Agronomic benefits of biochar have been mostly reviewed but farmer’s knowledge and perceptions about the technology also need to be understood as they are the technology end users. Farmers’ knowledge and perceptions can influence their adoption of the technologies. This paper reviewed literature on farmer’s perceptions and knowledge of biochar. From the literature reviewed, it is evident that farmers have high positive perceptions about biochar. Farmers’ socio-economic conditions shape their perceptions and knowledge about biochar. The awareness level about biochar was low in some study areas and farmers’ awareness was mostly of the benefits on soil-related issues and crop yields. Where farmers had low levels of educations and lacked access to extension support services, they also had low biochar awareness levels. Challenges related to access to credit, high costs, feedstock availability, and lack of information about biochar frequently emerged, and were farmers’ major constraints to biochar adoption. Therefore, to realise the full potential of biochar, these constraints should be eliminated. The study recommends that policies should facilitate the dissemination of biochar technology, improve their farmer’s access to information and increase their access to credit to improve the adoption of biochar for and improve the resilience of farming systems.