IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ssefpa/v9y2017i3d10.1007_s12571-017-0665-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How climate-smart is conservation agriculture (CA)? – its potential to deliver on adaptation, mitigation and productivity on smallholder farms in southern Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Thierfelder

    (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT))

  • Pauline Chivenge

    (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT))

  • Walter Mupangwa

    (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT))

  • Todd S. Rosenstock

    (World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF))

  • Christine Lamanna

    (World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF))

  • Joseph X. Eyre

    (University of Queensland, CIMMYT)

Abstract

Climate resilient cropping systems are required to adapt to the increasing threats of climate change projected for Southern Africa and to better manage current climate variability. Conservation agriculture (CA) has been proposed among technologies that are climate-smart. For a cropping system to be labelled “climate-smart” it has to deliver three benefits: a) adapt to the effects of climate and be of increased resilience; b) mitigate climate effects by sequestering carbon (C) and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG); and c) sustainably increase productivity and income. Research on smallholder farms from Southern Africa was analysed to assess if CA can deliver on the three principles of climate-smart agriculture. Results from Southern Africa showed that CA systems have a positive effect on adaptation and productivity, but its mitigation potential lags far behind expectations. CA systems maintain higher infiltration rates and conserve soil moisture, which helps to overcome seasonal dry-spells. Increased productivity and profitability were recorded although a lag period of 2–5 cropping seasons is common until yield benefits become significant. Immediate economic benefits such as reduced labour requirements in some systems will make CA more attractive in the short term to farmers who cannot afford to wait for several seasons until yield benefits accrue. The available data summarizing the effects of CA on soil organic C (SOC) and reductions in greenhouse gases, are often contradictory and depend a great deal on the agro-ecological environment and the available biomass for surface residue retention. There is an urgent need for more research to better quantify the mitigation effects, as the current data are scanty. Possible co-interventions such as improved intercropping/relay cropping systems, agroforestry and other tree-based systems may improve delivery of mitigation benefits and need further exploration.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Thierfelder & Pauline Chivenge & Walter Mupangwa & Todd S. Rosenstock & Christine Lamanna & Joseph X. Eyre, 2017. "How climate-smart is conservation agriculture (CA)? – its potential to deliver on adaptation, mitigation and productivity on smallholder farms in southern Africa," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 537-560, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:9:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s12571-017-0665-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s12571-017-0665-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-017-0665-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12571-017-0665-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rufino, M.C. & Dury, J. & Tittonell, P. & van Wijk, M.T. & Herrero, M. & Zingore, S. & Mapfumo, P. & Giller, K.E., 2011. "Competing use of organic resources, village-level interactions between farm types and climate variability in a communal area of NE Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 175-190, February.
    2. Jaleta, Moti & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele, 2013. "Tradeoffs in crop residue utilization in mixed crop–livestock systems and implications for conservation agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 96-105.
    3. Mazvimavi, Kizito & Ndlovu, Patrick V. & Nyathi, Putso & Minde, Isaac J., 2010. "Conservation Agriculture Practices and Adoption by Smallholder Farmers in Zimbabwe," 2010 AAAE Third Conference/AEASA 48th Conference, September 19-23, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa 96822, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    4. Mazvimavi, Kizito & Twomlow, Steve, 2009. "Socioeconomic and institutional factors influencing adoption of conservation farming by vulnerable households in Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 101(1-2), pages 20-29, June.
    5. David B. Lobell & Graeme L. Hammer & Greg McLean & Carlos Messina & Michael J. Roberts & Wolfram Schlenker, 2013. "The critical role of extreme heat for maize production in the United States," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(5), pages 497-501, May.
    6. von Braun, Joachim & Gerber, Nicolas & Mirzabaev, Alisher & Nkonya, Ephraim M., 2013. "The Economics of Land Degradation," Working Papers 147910, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    7. L. E. Drinkwater & P. Wagoner & M. Sarrantonio, 1998. "Legume-based cropping systems have reduced carbon and nitrogen losses," Nature, Nature, vol. 396(6708), pages 262-265, November.
    8. Leslie Lipper & Philip Thornton & Bruce M. Campbell & Tobias Baedeker & Ademola Braimoh & Martin Bwalya & Patrick Caron & Andrea Cattaneo & Dennis Garrity & Kevin Henry & Ryan Hottle & Louise Jackson , 2014. "Climate-smart agriculture for food security," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(12), pages 1068-1072, December.
    9. Baudron, Frédéric & Delmotte, Sylvestre & Corbeels, Marc & Herrera, Juan M. & Tittonell, Pablo, 2015. "Multi-scale trade-off analysis of cereal residue use for livestock feeding vs. soil mulching in the Mid-Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 97-106.
    10. David S. Powlson & Clare M. Stirling & M. L. Jat & Bruno G. Gerard & Cheryl A. Palm & Pedro A. Sanchez & Kenneth G. Cassman, 2014. "Limited potential of no-till agriculture for climate change mitigation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(8), pages 678-683, August.
    11. Cameron M. Pittelkow & Xinqiang Liang & Bruce A. Linquist & Kees Jan van Groenigen & Juhwan Lee & Mark E. Lundy & Natasja van Gestel & Johan Six & Rodney T. Venterea & Chris van Kessel, 2015. "Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture," Nature, Nature, vol. 517(7534), pages 365-368, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michler, Jeffrey D. & Baylis, Kathy & Arends-Kuenning, Mary & Mazvimavi, Kizito, 2019. "Conservation agriculture and climate resilience," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 148-169.
    2. Homann-Kee Tui, Sabine & Valbuena, Diego & Masikati, Patricia & Descheemaeker, Katrien & Nyamangara, Justice & Claessens, Lieven & Erenstein, Olaf & van Rooyen, Andre & Nkomboni, Daniel, 2015. "Economic trade-offs of biomass use in crop-livestock systems: Exploring more sustainable options in semi-arid Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 48-60.
    3. Jie Zhao & Ji Chen & Damien Beillouin & Hans Lambers & Yadong Yang & Pete Smith & Zhaohai Zeng & Jørgen E. Olesen & Huadong Zang, 2022. "Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Paswel P. Marenya & Menale Kassie & Moti Jaleta & Dil Bahadur Rahut & Olaf Erenstein, 2017. "Predicting minimum tillage adoption among smallholder farmers using micro-level and policy variables," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Xiaolin Yang & Jinran Xiong & Taisheng Du & Xiaotang Ju & Yantai Gan & Sien Li & Longlong Xia & Yanjun Shen & Steven Pacenka & Tammo S. Steenhuis & Kadambot H. M. Siddique & Shaozhong Kang & Klaus But, 2024. "Diversifying crop rotation increases food production, reduces net greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Garrick Blalock & Nyasha Tirivayi, 2021. "Climate‐Smart Innovations and Rural Poverty in Ethiopia: Exploring Impacts and Pathways," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 878-899, May.
    7. Tambo, J. & Mockshell, J., 2018. "Differential impacts of conservation agriculture technology options on household welfare in sub-Saharan Africa," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277035, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Adam M. Komarek, 2018. "Conservation agriculture in western China increases productivity and profits without decreasing resilience," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(5), pages 1251-1262, October.
    9. Sankhulani, Linda, 2021. "Impact evaluation of conservation agriculture on smallholder farmers’ livelihood in Zambia and Tanzania," Research Theses 334762, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    10. Francesco Calzarano & Fabio Stagnari & Sara D’Egidio & Giancarlo Pagnani & Angelica Galieni & Stefano Di Marco & Elisa Giorgia Metruccio & Michele Pisante, 2018. "Durum Wheat Quality, Yield and Sanitary Status under Conservation Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-13, September.
    11. Raymond Mugandani & Liboster Mwadzingeni & Paramu Mafongoya, 2021. "Contribution of Conservation Agriculture to Soil Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-11, September.
    12. Liangang Xiao & Minglei Ding & Chong Wei & Ruiming Zhu & Rongqin Zhao, 2020. "The Impacts of Conservation Agriculture on Water Use and Crop Production on the Loess Plateau: From Know-What to Know-Why," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    13. Wafa Ameur & Aymen Frija & Mohamed Arbi Abdeladhim & Chokri Thabet, 2021. "Patterns of Use of Residue Biomass in Cereal–Sheep Production Systems of North Africa: Case of Tunisia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, June.
    14. Drake N. Mubiru & Jalia Namakula & James Lwasa & Godfrey A. Otim & Joselyn Kashagama & Milly Nakafeero & William Nanyeenya & Mark S. Coyne, 2017. "Conservation Farming and Changing Climate: More Beneficial than Conventional Methods for Degraded Ugandan Soils," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-14, June.
    15. TerAvest, Dan & Wandschneider, Philip R. & Thierfelder, Christian & Reganold, John P., 2019. "Diversifying conservation agriculture and conventional tillage cropping systems to improve the wellbeing of smallholder farmers in Malawi," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 23-35.
    16. Tambo, Justice A. & Mockshell, Jonathan, 2018. "Differential Impacts of Conservation Agriculture Technology Options on Household Income in Sub-Saharan Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 95-105.
    17. Gurdeep Singh Malhi & Manpreet Kaur & Prashant Kaushik, 2021. "Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Its Mitigation Strategies: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Rodriguez, D & de Voil, P & Rufino, MC & Odendo, M & van Wijk, MT, 2017. "To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 32-42.
    19. Jing Tian & Jennifer A. J. Dungait & Ruixing Hou & Ye Deng & Iain P. Hartley & Yunfeng Yang & Yakov Kuzyakov & Fusuo Zhang & M. Francesca Cotrufo & Jizhong Zhou, 2024. "Microbially mediated mechanisms underlie soil carbon accrual by conservation agriculture under decade-long warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    20. Andrea D Basche & Marcia S DeLonge, 2019. "Comparing infiltration rates in soils managed with conventional and alternative farming methods: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:9:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s12571-017-0665-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.