Conservation Agriculture a sustainable practice for Africa’s Agriculture.

1. Conservation Agriculture: A
sustainable practice for Africa’s
agriculture.
Knott, S. Hoffman, W. Vink, N.

2. What is Conservation Agriculture
• Conservation agriculture is not a single specific technology,
rather it is a concept developed to encompass a number of
technologies directed to improved land husbandry in a
sustainable manner
• Conservation Agriculture:
‘…an approach to managing agro-ecosystems for improved and
sustained productivity, increased profits and food security while
preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment.
CA is characterised by three linked principles, namely:
• Continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance.
• Permanent organic soil cover.
• Diversification of cover crop species grown in sequence and/or
associations” (FAO, 2013).

3. Key Drivers
• Declining world commodity margins
• Ground water pollution and soil degradation
• Herbicides
• Reduced input costs

4. Benefits of CA
• Reduced erosion and environmental degradation
• Improved soil structure and biology
• Improved soil moisture retention
• Higher soil Carbon levels
• Increased yields
• Reduced input costs (low external input)
• Reduced CO2 emissions (reduced use of fossil
fuels)
• Long term sustainability both environmental and
economic

5. Challenges of CA
• Changing the Farmers Mind Set
• Farming – a high risk business
• Path dependence
• Differing Soil and Climatic Conditions
• Lack of Long term support for farmers

6. Area (ha) under CA by continent, as percentage of total 117 million
hectares worldwide
Source: FAO Aquastat, 2014
South America, 55 464 100,
43%
North America, 43 090 000,
34%
Australia & New Zealand, 17
162 000, 13%
Asia, 4 742 200, 4%
Europe, 6 451 900, 5%
Africa, 993 740, 1%
Progression on CA
In 1973/74 CA was used on 2.8million ha worldwide, growing to about 45 million ha in
1999 (Derpsch, 2001), 72 million ha 2003 (Benites, et al., 2003) and to 117 million ha by
2010 (FAO 2010)

7. USA and Canada
• 1930’s Mid West, ‘Great Dust Bowl”
• Adoption slow due to weed infestations
• 1960’s development of herbicides, Atrazine
• Over supply of local market post Wars
• Mechanisation and economies of size
• Federal Government conservation Policies
USA,
26500
Canada,
16590

8. Latin America Brazil,
25502
Argentina,
25553
Bolivia,
706
Chile,
180
Colombia,
127
Mexico, 41
Paraguay,
2400
Uruguay,
655.1
Venezuela,
300
• 1960’s Government Policy on soya’s
lead to soil degradation
• 1980’s academics and farmer groups adopt conservation agriculture
is response to environmental degradation
• Extension services: Rolf Derpsch
• Efficient diffusion of the technology through the many farmer
organisations
• Manufacturing companies seized the opportunity to develop and
distribute no-till equipment
• MERCOSUR countries
(southern common market
Comprising of Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela,
and Bolivia)
0
20
40
60
1987 1997 2007
Area of land under No-till Farming practices in
MERCOSUR countries.
MERCOSUR
USA

9. Australasia
• 1970’s concerns of wind and water erosion
• 1970’s and 80’s, increased government legislation
with emphasis on custodianship of the land
• 80% No-till adoption in the majority of regions by
2013
• main drivers for Australia; reduced fuel and
labour costs at seeding, soil conservation, and
soil moisture management
• Government policy; rebate on the 15% tax paid
on agricultural equipment specific to CA
Australia,
17000
New Zealand,
162

10. Europe
• European administrations are still not fully
convinced that the concept of CA is the most
promising one to meet the requirements of an
environmentally friendly farming
• Over supply post World Wars 1960’s
• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) promote
conservation and environmental Stewardship
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
ItalyNetherland
s
PortugalMoldova
Russian
Federation
Slovakia
Spain
Switzerland
Ukraine
UK

11. Asia
• 1970’s Punjab University began trials on no-till
for timely rice sowing
• Development of site specific implements
• Positive government policies in India, China,
and Kazakhstan
• Good extensive services and traveling
seminars
• Adoption is still lagging due to rice culture of
ploughing
China,
3100
DRP
Korea,
23
Kazakhsta
n, 1600
Lebanon,
1.2Syria, 18

12. Sub Saharan Africa
• First trials in Zimbabwe and South Africa,
1970’s
• Increased labour when herbicides poorly
applied (back breaking work)
• No government policy support. Promoted
by NGO’s on a short term basis
• When NGO program ends, farmers revert
back to old practices
• Commercial adoption higher due to
mechanisation
• Recent increased adoption in South Africa,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique
Ghana, 30 Kenya, 33.1Lesotho, 2 Madagasca
r, 6Malawi,
16 Mozambique,
152
Namibia,0.34
South Africa,
368
Sudan, 10
Tunisia, 8
Tanzania, 25
Zambia, 200
Zimbabwe,
139.3
Mozambique
152,000
South Africa
368,000
Lesotho
2,000
Madagascar
6,000
Zimbabwe
139,300
Zambia
200,000
Tanzania
25,000
Kenya
33,100
Sudan and
South Sudan
10,000
Namibia
340
Malawi
16,000
Ghana
30,000

13. Conclusions
• The challenge of feeding a growing world population
from limited resources can only be met by the efficient
use of the natural resources
• The reality of all new technology is that it is adopted
when it holds economic value and is socially
acceptable, seldom when it is solely environmentally
friendly
• Conservation Agriculture provides the most holistic
approach to a sustainable management system of
agricultural land
• The difficulty in adoption lies in the mind-set of the
farmer, a lack of knowledge of how best to adopt the
concept, availability of adequate machinery and
herbicides, and the potential short-term loss of income
and lag time of results