This case study presents the status of conservation agriculture in Zambia. It is one in a series of eight case studies about conservation agriculture in Africa, which were developed within the framework of a collaboration between CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), RELMA-in-ICRAF (Regional Land Management Unit of the World Agroforestry Centre) and ACT (African Conservation Tillage Network). This introductory section outlines the overall background of the conservation agriculture case study project and the key methodological choices made. It also gives a brief overview of major results and observations across all case studies. This broad perspective allows the reader to appreciate both the commonalities among the eight case studies and the specifi cs of the one being presented here.