Adoption and intensity of adoption of conservation farming practices in Zambia
ESA Working Paper 13-01
Year: 2013
This paper analyses the determinants of farmer adoption of conservation farming practices
using panel data from two rounds of the Rural Incomes and Livelihoods Surveys that were
implemented in 2004 and 2008. Conservation farming (CF) has been actively promoted in
seven of Zambia’s nine provinces since the 1980s. CF has the technical potential to
contribute to food security and adaptation to climate change; however, rigorous analyses of
the determinants of adoption/dis-adoption of these practices, are still scarce. This paper fills
this gap by combining rich panel data with historical rainfall data to understand the
determinants of adoption and intensity of two CF practices: minimum/zero tillage and
planting basins. Controlling for the confounding effects of household level unobservables, we
find that extension services and rainfall variability are the strongest determinants of adoption,
suggesting that farmers use these practices as an adaptation strategy to mitigate the negative
effects of variable rainfall. Eastern province shows a significantly different trend in terms of
both adoption and the intensity of adoption, indicating that the long established CF activities in the province have had some impact though high disadoption rates are observed even in this province.
Available in:
http://www.fao.org/3/a-aq288e.pdf
Theme: Climate
Publication type: Working paper
Country coverage: Zambia
Region: Africa
JEL codes: Q12, Q16, Q54, O33