Livestock production provides a pathway for improving livelihoods and reducing poverty in semi-arid tropical regions. However, this contribution has been affected by low livestock productivity. Most livestock programmes have also failed due to, among other things, the inability to understand the dynamics in smallholder breeding preferences. Using data from the sub-humid region in Zimbabwe, this paper sought to provide evidence on smallholder cattle breeding preferences and the implication on livestock improvement programmes. It applies the choice experiment approach to model farmer preferences for selected cattle breeding attributes. The results show three attributes that significantly affect breeding preferences. The attributes ‘cow body condition score’ and the ‘useful life of a bull/semen’ have a positive influence while ‘artificial insemination/bull maintenance cost’ negatively affects farmer preferences. This means farmers prefer breeding strategies which improve the nutrition of their cows, have a longer lifespan for the bull/semen and whose cost of breeding services is low. However, access to education and income affected these preferences. Education made farmers to make informed choices while higher incomes increased the propensity of investing in livestock breeding technologies. The findings also show that existing institutional arrangements in animal management and community grazing do not promote investment in livestock improvement. Thus, more attention should be given to improving animal nutritional management which includes promoting sustainable grazing schemes. There is also a need to provide affordable livestock breeding services through recruiting and training more artificial insemination service providers. Strong and effective institutions that provide incentives for collective participation are integral to any community-based livestock breeding programme. There is also a need to promote access to information and enhance farmers’ knowledge and capacity in improved livestock management practices.

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Conservation agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted in Zimbabwe as an antidote to non-viable agricultural production and continual land degradation. However, the adoption process had been quite slow and has not yet entered into the exponential uptake phase. This study aimed at identifying factors that influence the level of adoption of CA components. A cluster analysis from results of a household survey administered to 146 households in Muzvezve II, Kadoma District, Zimbabwe identified five dominant CA strategies (clusters) practiced by cotton growing farmers. A multinomial logit model revealed that the choice of CA components adopted is positively influenced by farmer's age, formal education, access to extension services, labour, animal draught power availability and land size. The empirical results suggests that, to promote adoption of a complete package of CA policies that increase access to formal education and extension of CA should make strategic intervention through innovative methods of farmer to farmer extension services. Promotion of longer-term and effective CA can only be accomplished through targeting young educated farmers. It is of paramount importance as well to address the main factors leading to non-adoption and slow adoption such as labour and animal draught power availability.