Understanding the impact and adoption of conservation agriculture in Africa: A multi-scale analysis

Corbeels, Marc; Graaff, J. de; Ndah, Hycenth Tim; Penot, Éric; Baudron, Frédéric; Naudin, Krishna; Andrieu, Nadine; Chirat, Guillaume; Schuler, Johannes; Nyagumbo, Isaiah; Rusinamhodzi, Léonard; Traoré, Karim; Mzoba, Hamisi Dulla; Adolwa, Ivan S.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2013.10.011

Cited by 208 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Each practice must be adapted to the local circumstances and specific contexts of smallholders before it can be widely disseminated and expected to be adopted (Corbeels et al, 2014). Thus, the study focuses on Xinxiang County in Henan province of China.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally-friendly agricultural practices and their acceptance by smallholder farmers in China—A case study in Xinxiang County, Henan Province

Luo

Qin

Wang

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally-friendly agricultural practices and their acceptance by smallholder farmers in China—A case study in Xinxiang County, Henan Province

Luo

Qin

Wang

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…An AIS approach is operationalized in the CA promotion by the multi-agent/stakeholder innovation network framework as recommended by Thierfelder & Wall (2011) and Corbeels et al (2013). The experts underlined that CA systems are more complex than the simple component technologies (e.g.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Area under CA (100,000 ha) high rainfall areas; d) inadequate residues in very dry areas; e) land insecurity leading to unwillingness to invest in the CA; f) shifting of CA labour to women; g) lack of good markets for input purchase and sale of produce; h) tradition, believes and communal peer pressure (Wall, 2007;Thierfelder & Wall, 2011;Corbeels et al, 2013;Thierfelder et al, 2015b).…”

Section: African Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particularly, Baudron et al (2013) acknowledged that crop residues trade-offs between livestock feeding and soil mulching is a major cause of the low and slow adoption in SSA yet mulching is considered a precursor to CA implementation. The experts agree that increasing crop productivity also increases crop residues to cater for both competing demands (Thierfelder & Wall, 2011;Baudron et al, 2013) otherwise territorial arrangements and by-laws over-riding free grazing may support better crop residue management (Corbeels et al, 2013). Other challenges observed in CA systems include: a) labour for weeding is expensive for resource poor farmers who cannot afford herbicides especially in the first years; b) the temporal need for more nitrogen in the first years of conversion due to slow organic matter decomposition and temporal nitrogen immobilisation; c) waterlogging in …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Retention of crop residues under CA is expected to increase soil carbon unlike the tillage-based cropping since residues are either destroyed or taken away from the field (Ngwira et al, 2012a;Corbeels et. al., 2013;Thierfelder et al, 2013;Wendt et al, 2013;Lal, 2015;Cheesman et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Smallholder Farmer Innovation and Contexts in Maize-Based Conservation Agriculture Systems in Central Malawi

Kaluzi¹,

Thierfelder²,

Hopkins³

2017

SAR

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The increased threat of food insecurity and climate change requires more sustainable ways of agriculture intensification in African smallholder farming systems. Ample evidence confirms that maize-based conservation agriculture (CA) systems lead to increased soil health and yield enhancement yet their overall uptake remains low in Africa. An array of studies on challenges and solutions to CA systems conducted in southern Africa principally focussed on the views of scientists, often neglecting the views of CA farmers. Therefore, this study assessed farmer decision making, innovation and contexts during implementation of maize-based CA systems in communities of central Malawi. A survey involving interviews with 226 CA farmers was deployed, triangulated with key informants comprising extension workers and policy makers. The study showed that about 58% of smallholder farmers did not adapt CA practices to their circumstances because they were strictly following change agents" recommendations. The major challenge noted was competition for crop residues due to mice hunters and grazing livestock. Local by-laws initiated by the communities have started to privatise the crop residues and its grazing. However, other innovations were often not documented by extension workers, consequently neglecting more than half of the potential solutions provided by farmers. The establishments of a National Conservation Agriculture Task Force and CA guidelines are positive developments for coordination of stakeholders and harmonisation of CA messages in Malawi. However, for greater adoption, non-linear interaction and learning must be encouraged in practice by fully embracing innovative farmers and the voices of the pool of stakeholders with varying experiences.

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Trajectories of Innovation in Conservation Agriculture at Lake Alaotra in Madagascar

Penot¹,

Fèvre²,

Flodrops³

2018

Innovation Processes in Agro‐Ecological Transitions in Developing Countries

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Understanding the impact and adoption of conservation agriculture in Africa: A multi-scale analysis

Cited by 208 publications

References 32 publications

Environmentally-friendly agricultural practices and their acceptance by smallholder farmers in China—A case study in Xinxiang County, Henan Province

Environmentally-friendly agricultural practices and their acceptance by smallholder farmers in China—A case study in Xinxiang County, Henan Province

Smallholder Farmer Innovation and Contexts in Maize-Based Conservation Agriculture Systems in Central Malawi

Trajectories of Innovation in Conservation Agriculture at Lake Alaotra in Madagascar

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