ACASA Final Data_Malawi

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 wide spread 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.

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Creator Tufa, Adane
Creator Affiliation International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Creator email A.Tufa@cgiar.org
Creator ID Type ORCID
Creator ID 0000-0001-9801-6526
Subject Vocab (AGROVOC/GACS/CAB) Conservation agriculture,Climate change,Climate,Malawi
Subject(s) Climate adaptation,Adoption
Publisher International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contributor Person 1 Arega Alene
Contributor Person 1 Affiliation International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contributor Person 1 email A.Alene@cgiar.org
Contributor Person 2  Julius Manda
Contributor Person 2 Affiliation International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contributor Person 2 email j.manda@cgiar.org
Contributor Person 3 David Chikoye
Contributor Person 3 Affiliation International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contributor Person 3 email d.chikoye@cgiar.org
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Contributor Project Lead Organisation Center International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contributor Project Lead Center International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contributor Initiative/CRP CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals
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Contributor Donor Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
Contributor Project Understanding and Enhancing Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa (ACAS)
Project ID PJ-001925
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Open-Access status Open Access
Production Date 2021-05-10
Embargo End Date
Content Type Dataset
File Format csv
Identifier Type DOI
Identifier https://doi.org/10.25502/6gfn-5z76/d
Identifier Citation Tufa, A. H., Kanyamuka, J. S., Alene, A., Ngoma, H., Marenya, P. P., Thierfelder, C., Banda, H., & Chikoye, D. (2023). Analysis of adoption of conservation agriculture practices in southern Africa: mixed-methods approach. In Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (Vol. 7). Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1151876
Source Understanding and Enhancing Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa (ACAS)
Language English
Relation Not Applicable
Agroecological Zone Semiarid warm tropics
Coverage Region Eastern Africa
Coverage country Malawi
Coverage Admin Unit Not Applicable
Coverage Y (Latitude) -13.26872
Coverage X (Longitude) 33.9302
Coverage Start Date 2021-03-27
Coverage End Date 2021-05-09
Contact Tufa, Adane; Agricultural Economist; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Contact Email A.Tufa@cgiar.org
Restriction CC-BY 4.0
Email Permission None
Rights CC-BY 4.0