Since 2004, there has been a series of initiatives in Zimbabwe to promote conservation agriculture (CA) through various donor-funded relief initiatives with the aim of improving crop production among vulnerable farmers. In April 2007, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) implemented a survey to collect data from 12 districts and 232 households that had been practicing hand hoe-based conservation farming (CF) for at least one prior season with extension and input support from non-governmental organizations. This study was undertaken to better understand the household and institutional factors that influence CF adoption patterns among the beneficiaries of these relief initiatives. Results from the study show that institutional support and agro-ecological location have strong statistical influence on the adoption intensity of different CF components. Besides the practice of preparing basins, at least 70% of the households had also adopted the following components of CF: manure application in the planting basin, topdressing with nitrogen fertilizer at the 5-6 leaf stage of the cereal crop, and timely post-planting weeding. Household labor availability and impacts of HIV/AIDS did not limit the intensity of adoption of CF. An enterprise budget analysis proved that because of the significant yield gains realized with CF, the technology is more viable than conventional tillage practices of broadcasting manure and overall spring tillage on the day of planting. The increased profitability in adopting CF was also reflected in steady increases in the area each household committed to CF from an average area of 1450 m 2 in 2004 to more than 2000 m 2 in 2007.

Agricultural productivity growth is vital for economic and food security outcomes which are threatened by climate change. In response, governments and development agencies are encouraging the adoption of ‘climate-smart’ agricultural technologies, such as conservation agriculture (CA). However, there is little rigorous evidence that demonstrates the effect of CA on production or climate resilience, and what evidence exists is hampered by selection bias. Using panel data from Zimbabwe, we test how CA performs during extreme rainfall events - both shortfalls and surpluses. We control for the endogenous adoption decision and find that use of CA in years of average rainfall results in no yield gains, and in some cases yield loses. However, CA is effective in mitigating the negative impacts of deviations in rainfall. We conclude that the lower yields during normal rainfall seasons may be a proximate factor in low uptake of CA. Policy should focus promotion of CA on these climate resilience benefits.

Low adoption of agricultural technology is among the main reasons for low farm productivity and high incidence of poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan countries including Tanzania. In this study, we examine the factors affecting adoption of improved sorghum varieties using data from 822 randomly selected sample households in northern and central Tanzania. We employ a multiple-hurdle Tobit model to assess the factors affecting adoption after controlling for both capital and information constraints. We also use t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding to cluster farmers into homogeneous groups. The method allows to reduce the dimensionality while preserving the topology of the dataset, which increases the clustering accuracy. It also superiors for visualization of the clustering results. Results show that radio and other mass media outlets that create awareness will increase adoption among farmers who do not face capital constraint. Some farmers lack basic resources such as land and capital, and subsidies could have a high impact on these farmers. Other farmers simply need assurance on the performance of improved sorghum varieties. Field days, on-farm trials, and demonstration plots could be useful in supporting these farmers. A tailored support system, however, needs a sustained investment in both quantity and quality of services. There is therefore a need to develop a pluralistic research and extension systems that encourage the use of information technologies and community-based organizations to reach specific groups of farmers.

This study sought to evaluate the performance of conservation agriculture (CA) technologyessentially comparing productivity and efficiency levels in maize production in CA and conventional farming. The analysis is based on a three year panel sample of smallholder farming households and employing a stochastic production frontier model compare productivity and technical efficiency between CA and conventional farming. Study results indicate that CA technology is implemented in relatively smaller plots than conventional farming (0.36ha compared to 0.85ha) but has a significant contribution to total maize production, on average 50% of output share. Output elasticities indicate positive responses for labor and seed in CA, and negative responses in conventional farming. On the other hand, there are negative responses to land and draft in CA. Fertilizer has a greater positive response in CA than in conventional farming. Overall returns to scale are similar for CA and conventional farming (0.84 and0.89 respectively). There is evidence of technical progress in CA for the three year panel period. Technical progress has been land-saving but seed and fertilizer-using in CA, while land-using and seed-saving in conventional farming. Joint frontier estimates indicate that farmers will produce 39% more in CA compared to conventional farming. Technical efficiency levels are generally the same (about 68%) for both technologies. Two-thirds of farmers achieve efficiency scores in the 60-80% range both CA and conventional farming technologies. These results show significant yield gains in CA practices and significant contributions to food production. CA is landsaving, and this is an important issue for land constrained farmers because they can still have viable food production on smaller area. But high labor demands in CA present some problems in adoption, particularly for the poorer farmers.

BackgroundNutrition education is crucial for improved nutrition outcomes. However, there are no studies to the best of our knowledge that have jointly analysed the roles of nutrition education, farm production diversity and commercialization on household, women and child dietary diversity.ObjectiveThis article jointly analyses the role of nutrition education, farm production diversity and commercialization on household, women and children dietary diversity in Zimbabwe. In addition, we analyze separately the roles of crop and livestock diversity and individual agricultural practices on dietary diversity.DesignData were collected from 2,815 households randomly selected in eight districts. Negative binomial regression was used for model estimations.ResultsNutrition education increased household, women, and child dietary diversity by 3, 9 and 24%, respectively. Farm production diversity had a strong and positive association with household and women dietary diversity. Crop diversification led to a 4 and 5% increase in household and women dietary diversity, respectively. Furthermore, livestock diversification and market participation were positively associated with household, women, and children dietary diversity. The cultivation of pulses and fruits increased household, women, and children dietary diversity. Vegetable production and goat rearing increased household and women dietary diversity.ConclusionsNutrition education and improving access to markets are promising strategies to improve dietary diversity at both household and individual level. Results demonstrate the value of promoting nutrition education; farm production diversity; small livestock; pulses, vegetables and fruits; crop-livestock integration; and market access for improved nutrition.