The spread of Conservation Agriculture: policy and institutional support for adoption and uptake

• Main Authors: Amir Kassam, Theodor Friedrich, Francis Shaxson, Herbert Bartz, Ivo Mello, Josef Kienzle, Jules Pretty
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institut Veolia Environnement 2014-12-01
• Series: Field Actions Science Reports
• Subjects: Extension; Soil carbon; Soil health; Sustainability; Tillage
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/3720
• ISSN: 1867-139X; 1867-8521

Conservation Agriculture (CA) in its many local adaptations has been practiced for more than three decades. In year 2013 it was deployed on some 155 million hectares worldwide on both large and small farms. In most cases, it has led to yield, economic and environmental benefits, and thus would appear to deserve greater policy and institutional support to accelerate opportunities for adoption and uptake. CA represents an alternate approach to the sustainable intensification of agriculture and differs fundamentally from modern approaches based largely on intensive tillage and purchased inputs that often disrupt ecosystem functions. CA incorporates a number of apparently counterintuitive and often unrecognised elements that simultaneously promote soil health, productive capacity and ecosystem services. Important constraints appear to be preventing wider-scale adoption of CA. Experience across many countries has shown that the adoption and spread of CA requires a change in commitment and behaviour of all stakeholders. For farmers, social mechanisms that encourage experimentation, learning and adaptation to local conditions are a prerequisite. For policy-makers and institutional leaders, transformation of tillage to CA systems requires that they fully understand the large economic, social and environmental benefits that these systems offer. Such transformations call for sustained policy and institutional support that provides both incentives and ‘motivations’ to encourage farmers to adopt components of CA practices and improve them over time. Here, we summarise the key institutional and policy requirements. Many of these apply widely to other forms of more sustainable agriculture.