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Adoption Potential of Conservation Agriculture Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: Results from Five Case Studies

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Abstract

Despite the reported benefits of conservation agriculture (CA), its wider up-scaling in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has remained fairly limited. This paper shows how a newly developed qualitative expert assessment approach for CA adoption (QAToCA) was applied to determine its adoption potential in SSA. CA adoption potential is not a predictor of observed adoption rates. Instead, our aim was to systematically check relevant factors that may be influencing its adoption. QAToCA delivers an assessment of how suitable conditions “and thus the likelihood for CA adoption” are. Results show that the high CA adoption potentials exhibited by the Malawi and Zambia case relate mostly to positive institutional factors. On the other hand, the low adoption potential of the Zimbabwe case, in spite of observed higher estimates, is attributed mainly to unstable and less secured market conditions for CA. In the case of Southern Burkina Faso, the potential for CA adoption is determined to be high, and this assessment deviates from lower observed figures. This is attributed mainly to strong competition of CA and livestock for residues in this region. Lastly, the high adoption potential found in Northern Burkina Faso is explained mainly by the fact that farmers here have no alternative other than to adopt the locally adapted CA system—Zaï farming. Results of this assessment should help promoters of CA in the given regions to reflect on their activities and to eventually adjust or redesign them based on a more explicit understanding of where problems and opportunities are found.

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Notes

  1. Adoption is the decision to make full use of an innovation as the best course of action (Rogers 2003).

  2. Answer statements: This are pre-formulated possible answers from which the respondent will have to select one. His decision as to which one to select is based on which of the statements (answers) according to his/her judgments guided by the knowledge of his case study background, is closest or reflects best the observed situation for the area under consideration.

  3. CA adaptation and adoption process is most efficient when local “innovation systems” emerges and begin to acquire a self-sustaining dynamics. The word adaptation as used in this paper refers specifically to the process of modifying the standard CA components to suit the respective sites and regional context in question.

  4. The Farmer Field School (FFS) is a group-based learning process that has been used by a number of governments, NGOs, and international agencies to promote Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

  5. ZCATF—A broad task force led by FAO in 2004 which consisted of four major principles: (i) high management standard; (ii) minimum tillage; (iii) precision application of small doses of nitrogen-based fertilizer to achieve higher nutrient efficiency; and (iv) combination of improved fertility with improved seed for higher productivity.

  6. Malawi’s national language.

  7. “CA” includes all adapted tools, machineries, herbicides, seeds, etc., required for the CA farming process while “CA outputs” include all harvested yields from the CA field at the end of the farming season, e.g., grains, tubers, legume seeds, fruits, etc.

  8. In addition, farmers often acknowledge labor savings, higher yields, moisture conservation, etc. as some of the drivers of adoption.

  9. Labor savings, higher yields, moisture conservation, etc. are also reported to be main drivers of adoption in Malawi.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out as part of the European Union (EU) funded project CA in AFRICA: Analyzing and Foreseeing its Impact—Comprehending its Adoption (CA2Africa, www.ca2africa.eu). The opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors wish to thank the CA2Africa consortium for helpful comments, provision of data and additional assistance. Our special appreciation to Peter Aagaard of CFU Zambia and his team for the informational and logistical support during the research stay in Zambia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Institute of Socio-Economics, Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany

    Hycenth Tim Ndah, Johannes Schuler, Sandra Uthes, Peter Zander, Karim Traore, Mphatso-S Gama, Isaiah Nyagumbo, Bernard Triomphe, Stefan Sieber & Marc Corbeels

  2. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Machinga ADD, P/Bag 3 CNRST, Liwonde, Malawi

    Mphatso-S Gama

  3. Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

    Karim Traore

  4. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Harare, Zimbabwe

    Isaiah Nyagumbo

  5. Research Unit Annual Cropping Systems, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Marc Corbeels

  6. Joint Research Unit Innovation, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Avenue Agropolis, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Bernard Triomphe

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  1. Hycenth Tim Ndah
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  2. Johannes Schuler
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Correspondence to Hycenth Tim Ndah.

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Ndah, H.T., Schuler, J., Uthes, S. et al. Adoption Potential of Conservation Agriculture Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: Results from Five Case Studies. Environmental Management 53, 620–635 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0215-5

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