Constraints to the utilisation of conservation agriculture in Africa as perceived by agricultural extension service providers. (April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brown, Brendan; Nuberg, Ian; Llewellyn, Rick
• Is Part Of: Land use policy. Volume 73(2018)
• Page Start: 331
• Page End: 340
• Publication Date: 2018-04
• Subjects: Adoption gap -- Qualitative assessment -- Africa -- Information gap -- Farmer to farmer extension -- Conservation agriculture -- Agricultural extension; Land use -- Periodicals; Land use -- Government policy -- Periodicals; Sol, Utilisation du -- Périodiques; Sol, Utilisation du -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 333.7305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.02.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-8377

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: The perspectives of those providing extension services to African smallholder farmers are explored. Constraints non-specific to CA are found to dominate limited farming systems change. This reflects the limited interaction of subsistence farmers with communal resources. Flexible adaptation of conservation agriculture more likely to enable farmer utilisation. Greater emphasis on policy environment for extension services is also required. Abstract: Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a knowledge-intensive set of practices which requires substantial access to functional agricultural extension services to enable utilisation. Despite this importance, the perspectives of those providing extension services to smallholder farmers have not been fully investigated. To address this, we qualitatively explore the perspectives of agricultural extension providers across six African countries to understand why uptake of CA has been limited, as well as the institutional changes that may be required to facilitate greater utilisation. Across the diversity of geographical, political and institutional contexts between countries, we find multiple commonalities in the constrained utilisation of CA by smallholder farmers, highlighting the difficulties non-mechanised subsistence farmers face in transitioning to market-oriented farming systems such as CA. The primary constraint relates to the economic viability of market-oriented farming where farmers remain in low input and low output systems with limited exit points. The assumed exit point used by CA programs appears to have led to a culture of financial expectancy and reflects a continuation of top-down extension approaches with inadequate modification of CA to the contextual realities of subsistence farmers. If African agricultural systems are to be sustainably intensified, we find a need for greater flexibility within extension systems in the pursuit of sustainable intensification. If extension systems are to persist with CA, it will need to be promoted through more transitional pathways that disaggregate the CA package, and with that there is a need for the provision of a mandate to, and necessary funding for, more participatory extension services.