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Reducing the Risk of Crop Failure for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Through the Adoption of Conservation Agriculture

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Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa

Abstract

Current degradation of the natural resource base calls for innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture in Africa. Conservation agriculture (CA) is a sustainable cropping system based on minimal soil disturbance, soil cover with crop residues and crop rotations. CA leads to soil organic matter accumulation and improves water harvesting, and therefore more stable yields and a reduction of the risk of crop failure. After several years, soil quality improvement results in greater crop productivity. However, smallholder, resource-poor farmers in Africa generally manage mixed crop/livestock systems and depend on crop residues for animal feed in the dry season. Strategies therefore need to be developed to convert the farm from conventional to conservation agriculture. Step-wise incorporation of CA into the farming system and concentration of plant nutrient resources will allow increased productivity of both food and crop residues. Once productivity is increased part of the crop residues can be used as animal feed while still leaving sufficient residues for soil cover and soil quality regeneration. Greater production stability and reduced labour requirements of CA make it possible for farmers to use part of the farm for higher value crops, thus generating additional income. Reduced labour requirements of CA allow farmers to involve in alternative activities. CA systems, however, are knowledge intensive and although the principles have very wide application, the actual techniques and technologies to apply these principles are site and farmer-circumstance specific, necessitating the development of multi-stakeholder “innovation networks” focused on adapting CA systems to local conditions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out under the project “Facilitating the widespread adoption of conservation agriculture in smallholder maize-based systems in Eastern and Southern Africa” by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with multiple partners, including the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Financial support of the Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ) of the German Government is gratefully acknowledged, as is the technical support of Tobias Charakupa and Sign Phiri from Zimbabwe and Mangwala Sitali and Patient Munakalanga from Zambia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIMMYT Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 163, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

    C. Thierfelder

  2. CIMMYT, Harare, Zimbabwe

    P.C. Wall

Authors
  1. C. Thierfelder
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  2. P.C. Wall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. Thierfelder .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Soil Health Program, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Afric, Agostino Neto Road, Airport Res. Area 6, Accra, Ghana

    Andre Bationo

  2. , African Network for Soil Biology and Fer, Tropical Soil Biology & Fertility Inst., c/o ICRAF, Off UN Avenue, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Boaz Waswa

  3. , African network for Soil Biology and Fer, Tropical Soil Biology & Fertility Inst., c/o ICRAF, Off UN Avenue, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Jeremiah M. Okeyo

  4. , Socio-economics and Biometrics, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, 00800, Kenya

    Fredah Maina

  5. , African Network for Soil Biology and Fer, Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Inst, c/o ICRAF, Off UN Avenue, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Job Maguta Kihara

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Thierfelder, C., Wall, P. (2011). Reducing the Risk of Crop Failure for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Through the Adoption of Conservation Agriculture. In: Bationo, A., Waswa, B., Okeyo, J., Maina, F., Kihara, J. (eds) Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2543-2_129

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