Type
Date
Corporate author
Editor
Illustrator
Producer
Photographer
Contributor
Writer
Translator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Access Rights
APA citation
Tufa, A., Kanyamuka, J. S., Alene, A. D., Ngoma, H., Marenya, P., Thierfelder, C., Banda, H., & Chikoye, D. (2023). Analysis of adoption of conservation agriculture practices in southern Africa: mixed-methods approach. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1151876. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1151876
ISO citation
Abstract
Description
In southern Africa, conservation agriculture (CA) has been promoted to address low agricultural productivity, food insecurity, and land degradation. However, despite significant experimental evidence on the agronomic and economic benefits of CA and large scale investments by the donor community and national governments, adoption rates among smallholders remain below expectation. The main objective of this research project was thus to investigate why previous efforts and investments to scale CA technologies and practices in southern Africa have not led to widespread adoption. The paper applies a multivariate probit model and other methods to survey data from 4,373 households and 278 focus groups to identify the drivers and barriers of CA adoption in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The results show that declining soil fertility is a major constraint to maize production in Zambia and Malawi, and drought/heat is more pronounced in Zimbabwe. We also find gaps between (a) awareness and adoption, (b) training and adoption, and (c) demonstration and adoption rates of CA practices in all three countries. The gaps are much bigger between awareness and adoption and much smaller between hosting demonstration and adoption, suggesting that much of the awareness of CA practices has not translated to greater adoption. Training and demonstrations are better conduits to enhance adoption than mere awareness creation. Therefore, demonstrating the applications and benefits of CA practices is critical for promoting CA practices in all countries. Besides, greater adoption of CA practices requires enhancing farmers’ access to inputs, addressing drudgery associated with CA implementation, enhancing farmers’ technical know-how, and enacting and enforcing community bylaws regarding livestock grazing and wildfires. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for policy and investments in CA promotion.
Keywords
Citation
Copyright
CIMMYT manages Intellectual Assets as International Public Goods. The user is free to download, print, store and share this work. In case you want to translate or create any other derivative work and share or distribute such translation/derivative work, please contact CIMMYT-Knowledge-Center@cgiar.org indicating the work you want to use and the kind of use you intend; CIMMYT will contact you with the suitable license for that purpose
Journal
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Journal volume
7
Journal issue
Article number
1151876
Place of Publication
Switzerland
Publisher
Frontiers
Related Datasets
CGIAR Initiatives
Initiative
Mixed Farming Systems
Diversification in East and Southern Africa
Diversification in East and Southern Africa
Impact Area
Climate adaptation & mitigation
Nutrition, health & food security
Nutrition, health & food security
Action Area
Resilient Agrifood Systems
Donor or Funder
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)
CGIAR Trust Fund
CGIAR Trust Fund