Incentives Could Create a Tipping Point in Conservation Agriculture Adoption
Conservation agriculture is widely viewed as an important strategy for maintaining healthy soils and improving long-term agricultural productivity, but also has the potential to help in managing waterways that generate a region’s hydropower. However, the adoption of conservation agriculture practices among small-scale farmers in southern Africa remains low.
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Conservation agriculture is widely viewed as an important strategy for maintaining healthy soils and improving long-term agricultural productivity, but also has the potential to help in managing waterways that generate a region’s hydropower. However, the adoption of conservation agriculture practices among small-scale farmers in southern Africa remains low. We conducted a study in Malawi to evaluate how financial incentives affect how small-scale farmers decide to adopt the three individual practices that make up conservation agriculture. We found that adoption by neighbors was more important than any other factor, which could have implications for the overall cost of encouraging conservation agriculture across a region.
