Browsing by Author "Dangwa, Lorraine"

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    An assessment of conservation agriculture adaption by smallholder farmers : a case of Goromanzi, Zimbabwe
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Dangwa, Lorraine; Morokong, Tshepo; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Conservation agriculture (CA) builds the resilience of farming systems and supports rural livelihoods. The practice is normally known for its benefits of promoting better crop yields and soil fertility in a sustainable way as a climate adaptation strategy. This study assesses factors influencing the adoption of conservation agriculture by smallholder farmers in Goromonzi District, Zimbabwe. The study focuses on the following objectives: to identify factors influencing the adoption of conservation agriculture by smallholder farmers; to identify types of CA practices being done by smallholder farmers; and to identify farmers’ perceptions of the role of CA in solving environmental issues. Overall, a total of 60 smallholder farmers and two extension officers participated in the study, and the research data was collected using household surveys and interviews. The analysis techniques applied in this study were descriptive statistics, the ordinal probit model and thematic analysis. The results show that 83% of the farmers are already practising CA based on the three principles, whereas 2% adopted soil cover and minimum soil disturbance, 2% adopted crop rotation and minimum soil disturbance, 2% adopted crop rotation only, and the remaining 7% were non-adopters of CA. This shows that CA is being adopted mostly in the area, despite a few smallholder farmers adopting only two CA practices and those not adopting at all. Using the ordinal probit model, the following variables were used to assess CA adoption: age, gender, education, experience in CA, and CA adoption solves climate change environmental issues. The research only found the following variables to be significant: age, gender and education, whereas experience in CA and CA adoption solves climate change environmental issues were found to be insignificant. The following policy recommendations can be made to improve CA adoption: information and training content should be disseminated that will help female smallholder farmers; the government should arrange an agriculture extension network to assist smallholder farmers; and smallholder farmers should get a chance to get access to credit facilities.