Abstract:
This article assesses the intensity of technology adoption of conservation agriculture
(CA) techniques by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. It seeks to understand the
drivers of CA adoption intensity in terms of the number of practices implemented
using count data analysis. On average, the farmers in our sample adopt five out of eight possible CA practices while only 7.4% use all eight practices in any one year.
Practices such as digging planting basins (81.9%), applying manure (73.2%) and
timely post-planting weeding (70.1%) are relatively popular, while adoption of crop
rotation (22.8%) is comparatively rare. Productivity is positively correlated to the
number of techniques used. Farmers adopting all the CA practices are the most
productive, with an estimated maize yield of 2.50 tons/ha, compared with a yield of
less than 1 tons/ha for those using three techniques or fewer. Results from a Poisson
regression indicate that education, agro-ecology, non-governmental input support
and extension support have a significant impact on adoption intensity. Subsidised
inputs increase the number of components used, although access to those inputs
was uneven across regions of Zimbabwe. Further, the number of CA components
used in the previous season positively impacts current season adoption intensity,
implying that promotions of CA technologies do have a persistent effect, even after
those promotions end.
