Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

Forces driving for adoption of conservation agriculture include success storiesaround the world, research findings, results from early adopters showing benefitsin soil fertility improvement and increased yield with reduced labour and othercosts of production, and government policies supporting conservation agriculturetechnologies and practices. Project support in conservation agriculture inputs,knowledge and various incentives promoted adoption. Conservation agriculturepathways, which are referred to as the adoption process, were based on thepurchasing power at household level, land size, existing indigenous technologiescompatible with the introduced conservation agriculture practices, multiple uses ofcover crops, and group formation and dynamics such as farmer field schools.Some conservation agriculture successes recorded from the study area includeincreased yield in beans from an average of 2–3 bags to 5–7 bags per acre, and maizefrom 5–7 bags to 15 bags per acre. Rippers and subsoilers have also improved waterinfiltration, enabling crops to tolerate dry spells. Conservation agriculture has alsoproved to be a labour-saving technology as fewer operations are required comparedwith conventional agriculture. Households that have adopted no-till no longer needto slash and burn their trash or plough and harrow their fields. The reduction ofweeding operations has been of great relief to farmers, especially women. Usinglablab as a cover crop has resulted in multiple benefits such as suppressing weeds,controlling soil erosion and improving soil fertility. It is also used as a cash crop, hasedible seeds, and is available as a green vegetable during the dry season.Despite the success of conservation agriculture principles in improving cropproduction, there are many challenges to overcome, as the concept seems to be‘new’ in many farming systems. Among the problems are the need to change farmerperceptions and mindset and to make inputs more readily available. Unpredictableweather conditions, inability to maintain a permanent soil cover, limited knowledge,and livestock keeping are retarding efforts to make conservation agriculture takenup more widely. Many projects have not proved sustainable in the long term, slowingthe diffusion of conservation agriculture technologies. Inadequate coordinationof conservation agriculture activities at district level due to the limited numberof extension staff and knowledge of how best conservation agriculture can fit indifferent systems have also posed problems. Conservation agriculture implementsare not readily available at district headquarters, and some are too expensive for thepurchasing power of most farmers. Few initiatives have focused on policy analysisor on advocating that conservation agriculture technologies be included in nationalagricultural policies and that whenever possible each district have a resource centreto deal with such technologies, inputs and implements.Suggestions have been made on ways to overcome challenges that include coordinatingconservation agriculture stakeholders towards a common focus in achieving set goals,establishing a database of conservation agriculture activities and references, creatingawareness and sensitizing the community about conservation agriculture, analysingpolicy and advocating that conservation agriculture technologies be included in thenational agricultural policy, and encouraging that a conservation agriculture programmerather than conservation agriculture projects be undertaken. Conservation agriculturemanuals need to be translated into local languages in simple phrases. The conservationagriculture package of technologies should integrate livestock with crops.56 Ringo et al.