article · Food and Energy Security
Conservation agriculture offers a climate-smart farming method to build resilience in semiarid regions, yet uptake among smallholders varies considerably. An assessment of smallholder farmers exposed to conservation agriculture in north-eastern Namibia examined adoption rates across three core practices: minimum tillage, crop rotation, and mulching. Minimum tillage was the most prevalent practice, adopted by 95.1 percent of surveyed farmers, followed by crop rotation at 70.7 percent and mulching at 65.9 percent. Overall, 61.0 percent of respondents adopted all three practices simultaneously. However, uptake differed sharply between regions, with 94.7 percent of farmers in Kavango East adopting the full package compared to only 31.8 percent in Zambezi. High labour requirements and lack of access to suitable equipment were identified as the primary barriers hindering broader uptake, highlighting the necessity for tailored regional support and better access to agricultural tools.
Conservation agriculture is central to continental initiatives for agricultural transformation and climate resilience across Africa. Understanding practical bottlenecks at the local level helps development organisations and policymakers design targeted programmes. Identifying equipment shortages and high labour demands enables targeted interventions that can make climate-smart practices viable and sustainable for smallholder communities facing climate vulnerabilities.
The findings highlight practical market opportunities for agricultural equipment manufacturers, input suppliers, and mechanisation service providers. Because labour constraints and lack of equipment affect over half of smallholders, demand exists for affordable, labour-saving tools and machinery tailored to conservation farming. While the study itself is applied survey research rather than a commercial technology, it points to clear, field-level needs among smallholder farmers for targeted tools and equipment services.
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ABSTRACT Conservation agriculture (CA) has gained policy relevance across Africa as a climate‐smart approach aligned with continental commitments under the Malabo Declaration and the subsequent Kampala CAADP agenda to promote sustainable agricultural transformation and resilient agrifood systems. However, its adoption remains uneven in semiarid farming systems, including north‐eastern Namibia. This study assessed farmers' perceptions, adoption levels, and factors associated with CA adoption in the Kavango East and Zambezi regions of Namibia. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted among smallholder farmers previously exposed to CA interventions. Of the 83 eligible farmers identified, 66 were interviewed, and 41 complete questionnaires were included in the final analysis. Minimum tillage was the most widely adopted CA practice (95.1%), followed by crop rotation (70.7%) and mulching (65.9%). Based on an integrated definition requiring the application of all three CA principles, 61.0% of respondents were classified as adopters. Integrated CA adoption was higher in Kavango East (94.7%) than in Zambezi (31.8%). Binary logistic regression showed that region was significantly associated with adoption, with farmers in Kavango East having approximately four times greater odds of adopting integrated CA than those in Zambezi (OR = 4.31, 95% CI: 1.47–12.62, p = 0.008). Labor requirements (75.6%) and limited access to equipment (53.7%) were the most frequently reported constraints. The findings underscore the need for region‐specific CA interventions that reduce labor demands and improve access to appropriate equipment and production inputs.
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DOI: 10.1002/fes3.70308
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