UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Major Groups

Submitting organization:

Affiliation:	- Farmers

Name of Focal Point:	Sofia Widforss

Initiative Title:	Conservation farming in Zambia

Internet links:	http://www.ifpri.org/events/conferences/2003/120103/cases/conservzambia.pdf http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=46943 http://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/eptddp/108.html http://aem.cornell.edu/special_programs/AFSNRM/Poverty/Papers/individual/Papers/Haggblade,%20Tembo.pdf

Scope:	National: - Zambia

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: Pre 1997 End:

Lead Institution:	Conservation Farming Unit (CFU), Zambia National Farmers Union

Stakeholders/Partners:	Farmers Union (ZNFU) and Conservation farming unit (CFU) GART for research, Dunavant Cotton Co. Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF)International Food Policy Research Centre (IFPRI) The Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA), and the Land Management and Conservation Farming (LMCF)

Relevent issues:	- Food security and sustainable agriculture - Enhancing agricultural productivity through adequate and sustainable inputs - Agrarian reform - Natural resources management - Land conservation and rehabilitation programmes - Soil fertility improvement practices

Objectives/Challenges:

These practices aim to improve soil structure and water retention and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers while at the same time increasing crop yield.

Lessons Learned:

Input supply and credit necessary for smallholders.
Extension support is needed, as well as labor management, weed control, credit and input availability for further expansion. Careful planning will enhance the process.
Ther are advocates for conservation farming who argue that the advantage comes from enabling farmers to better plan their work - the usual last-minute rush to prepare the land before the rains come, planting late and potentially losing up to 60 or 70 percent of their yield as a result, can in this way be avoided.

Summary:

Efforts to encourage the Zambian farmers to adopt more sustainable methods using either hand hoe or animal draft tillage. The technique includes dry-season land preparation using minimum tillage methods (e.g. hand hoe basins), crop residue retention, precision input application (in a precise grid of planting basins or along rip lines), and nitrogen-fixing crop rotations.
Conservation farming also increases weeding labor, at least in the early years following adoption.
It has paid off and some small-scale farmers are reporting record high yields. Hence, this method is ecologically sustainable while increasing the yields.