Analysis of adoption of conservation agriculture practices in southern Africa: mixed-methods approach

dc.creatorTufa, A.H.
dc.creatorKanyamuka, J.
dc.creatorAlene, A.D.
dc.creatorNgoma, H.
dc.creatorMarenya, P.P.
dc.creatorThierfelder, C.
dc.creatorBanda, H.
dc.creatorChikoye, D.
dc.date2023-05-06T00:30:15Z
dc.date2023-05-06T00:30:15Z
dc.date2023
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-17T20:10:35Z
dc.date.available2023-07-17T20:10:35Z
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10883/22598
dc.identifier10.3389/fsufs.2023.1151876
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorioslatinoamericanos.uchile.cl/handle/2250/7514341
dc.descriptionIn 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.
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherFrontiers
dc.relationClimate adaptation & mitigation
dc.relationMixed Farming Systems
dc.relationDiversification in East and Southern Africa
dc.relationResilient Agrifood Systems
dc.relationNorwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
dc.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/130271
dc.rightsCIMMYT 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
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.source7
dc.source2571-581X (Online)
dc.sourceFrontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
dc.source1151876
dc.subjectAGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
dc.subjectAdoption
dc.subjectFocus Group Discussion
dc.subjectCONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
dc.subjectCLIMATE CHANGE
dc.subjectSustainable Agrifood Systems
dc.titleAnalysis of adoption of conservation agriculture practices in southern Africa: mixed-methods approach
dc.typeArticle
dc.typePublished Version
dc.coverageMalawi
dc.coverageZambia
dc.coverageZimbabwe
dc.coverageSwitzerland


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