Conservation Agriculture Regional Working Group (CARWG) Annual Meeting 2015, Pretoria, South Africa, 1-2 December, 2015

1. What is Conservation Agriculture
(CA) and for What in Africa?
by
Saidi Mkomwa, CARWG Chair, and CEO
African ConservationTillage Network (ACT)
Email: saidi.mkomwa@act-africa.org
Presented to
Conservation Agriculture Regional Working
Group (CARWG) Annual Meeting 2015,
Pretoria, South Africa, 1-2 December, 2015

2. Food security is urgent in Africa,
but more so in coming years
 Global population to increase by 33% to 9 billion by
2050; Africa’s to increase by 115%; by 21% in Asia
 60% more food worldwide; 100% in Africa
 Worldwide hunger decreased by 132 million in last 20
years; it increased by 64 million in Africa.
 Threatening climate change challenges
 Farming related land resource degradation
THE GOOD NEWS:
 Easier to double yields in Africa (say from 1.2 to 2.4 tonnes/ha)
 A 1% increase in cereal yield can lift 2 million people out of
poverty
 Africa has 60% of the global total uncultivated crop land
 4 of the world’s top 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa
The Question is How?
AtransformationisImperative

3. It must be Sustainable Intensification
for adaptation and mitigation to Climate Change
 Farming Not based on
Tillage. USA dust storms of
1930s.To reduce the 14% of GHG
emissions from agriculture
 Watershed & water
towers conservation.
Recharge aquifers, green power.
 Agroforestry. Biodiversity,
rainforests, carbon sinks.
 Intensified crop–
livestock-tree systems.
Curb overgrazing degradation.
40 million hectares destroyed,
2.5 million people migrated
Africa is deforesting at twice the
world rate

4. The future is bright; but a transformation
anchored on soil health is imperative!
 Healthy soils/brown revolution: higher efficiency of use
of all inputs; resilience to climate change; sustainability.
 Need to increase productivity (reduce escalating
inputs costs, labour shortages, reduce climatic shocks).
 Special focus on smallholder rainfed agriculture in
semiarid lands - home of the poor
 Competitive value chain and market access
 Innovative pro-poor business models to bring
affordable farm inputs and services to the farmers’
doorstep
Adapt and adopt Conservation Agriculture
Africa missed the dramatic gains of the Green Revolution

5. CA is an approach to managing agro-
ecosystems for improved and sustained
productivity, increased resilience to
rainfall variability, increased profits and
food security while preserving and
enhancing the resource base and the
environment.
1. Continuous minimum mechanical soil
disturbance.
2. Permanent organic soil cover.
3. Diversification of crop species grown in
sequences or associations.
CA is one of the best options for transformation

6. CA is againstTillage, Not against Mechanisation!
African Innovation
o Dibble stick
(Early Egyptians)
o Zai pits
(West Africa)
o Skip stone direct seeding technology
Brazilian Perfection & Systematization

7.  Soil cover and zero till reduce evaporation & runoff;
increase infiltration
 Larger un-compacted root zone retain soil moisture
for dry spells; and drain excess to check flooding
 Leguminous cover crops fix much needed nitrogen
 Crop rotations break pest cycles. & nutrient
recycling (e.g. Musangu). Deliberate allelopathy
rotations (e.g. with push-pull) can be induced.
 Increased soil moisture enables increased land
productivity: e.g. 2.5 crops /year; mixed/relay
cropping
 CA sequesters carbon; reduction in fuel use and
GHG emissions. NB Cost saving is the biggest drive
to commercial CA adoption
How does CA work?

8. What are the Benefits of CA?
Adaptation:
• Increases crop yields
• Higher cropping intensity (1.5 – 2)
• Increases resource use efficiency
• Enhances system resilience (coping with erratic rainfall)
• Reduces soil erosion, improves soil health
Mitigation:
• Intensification reduces clearing of forests for agriculture
• Improved soil – sequester of carbon
• Minimum till reduces the use of diesel by up to 65% - less CO2
emissions
• Crop rotations/associations – nitrogen fixing, reduced fertilizer use
Achievement of national goals
• Increases farm incomes and profits
• Improves food security
• Reduces poverty
• Enhances ecosystem services

9. Does CA Work?
 150 million ha globally,
expanding at the rate of 10
million ha per year (Kassam
2014). 1.22 million ha in Africa.
 Increased productivity (for
small, medium and large scale
farmers).
 Savings in labour (up to
60%). Zero tillage. Labour peaks
spread.Attracts youths, creates
opportunities for enterprise
diversification, expansion of
cultivated area (from saved time).
 CA helps fight climate
change (the 14% GHG emissions
from agriculture problem changes
to a solution):
 The entry point to food
security for smallholders &
commercialise by selling surplus and
diversify
 In restoring landscapes and
improving livelihoods. See
Thomas Loronyo, ArushaTanzania.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0o
rM79a6oo
 In increasing productivity - for
the large scale farmers in Africa. See
Laurie Session. Laikipia Kenya. Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9
4xFIxOGs4
 The scientific evidence in
plenty: CIMMYT; FAO -website:
http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/index.html;
EU &ACT ABACO project in 6 countries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA
QbfXvE8Ec

10. Worldwide adoption of
Conservation Agriculture
6thSSource World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, Winnipeg, 22-25 June 2014 slide 2/x
USA 36
Canada
18
Australia 17.9
Europe 2
Kazakhstan 2
Africa 1.2
Brazil 32
Conservation Agriculture globally 155 Million ha (~11% of arable cropland)
Argentina 27
Paraguay 3
China 6.7
tropical savannah
continental, dry
temperate, moist
temperate, moist
continental, dry
irrigated
smallholder
smallholder
smallholder
arid
arid
large scale
large
scale
large scale
large scale
large
scale
large
scale
subtropical, dry
tropical
savannah
other LA 2.4
>50% W
(40%)
20%
99%
100% West
(36%)
Russia,
Ukraine 5.2
India 1.5
other Asia 0.1
• CA adoption expanding at the rate of 9 million ha annually
• 1.22 million ha in Africa. 65% are smallholders.
Source: Adapted from
Kassam, 2015

11. Worldwide adoption of
Conservation Agriculture
6th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, Winnipeg, 22-25 June 2014 slide 2/x
100
Dustbowl
1930 20001950
USSoilConservationService
conservationtillage
dustbowl
Siberia/USSR
Faulkner(US)–Fukuoka(Japan)
commercialno-till/US
firstno-tilldemonstrationinBrazil
Oldrieve/Zimbabwe
adoptionBrazil
plantiodiretonapalha
experimentsinChina,IndogangeticPlains
Newboost:Canada,
Australia,Kazakhstan,
Russia,China,Finland...;
Africa
Argentina,Paraguay;
1980 1990
Firstno-tillintheUS
IITAno-tillresearch
50
Mill.ha
History and Adoption of CA
1970 2010
155 mill ha
firstno-tillfarmersinUSA
FirstWCCAinMadrid
Source: Kassam, 2015

12. Challenges to Upscale CA
1. Continued promotion and development support of
tillage-based agricultural systems by national,
international &private institutions;
2. Weak policies and regulatory frameworks and
institutional arrangements to support the promotion and
mainstreaming of CA;
3. Inadequate awareness, knowledge and expertise of CA
systems and the process of their adoption and spread
among key stakeholders;
4. Inadequate CA-based technology packaging, enterprise
diversification and integration in farming systems (not
adequately addressing livestock intergration is costly);
Paradigm shift; Project based interventions; Incubate Entrepreneurship

13. 5. Inadequate skills and competencies among farmers, &
practitioners;
6. Farmers’ inability to maintain year-round soil cover
through the use of specially introduced cover crops,
intercrops and crop residue;
7. Poor availability &access to CA equipment, machinery
and inputs;
8. Absence of a strong continental body & strategic policy
framework to guide the promotion and mainstreaming of
CA across Africa.

14. Opportunities to Upscale CA in Africa
 CA offers the unique win-win-win option to the pressure
to transform farming in Africa for Food Security-Economic
Growth-Climate Change resilience. Gateway for
smallholders to commercialise.
 CA can greatly contribute to the SDG’s specifically SDGs
2,13,17
 Good will of Development partners (EU, NORAD, DFID,
USAID, FAO, etc. ) to streamline CA at CAADP-
NEPAD/AU level under a CA framework
 Support from research (e.g. CIMMYT, ICRISAT,
CCARDESA), education (e.g. Bunda, Sokoine, Fort Hare,
Gwebi) sectors as well as Govts (e.g. those represented at
CARWG) increasing.

15.  CA Centres of Excellence to work for smallholder
farmers.
 Entrepreneurial CA services provision models
 Support to Continental CA coordination: quality
assurance, knowledge and information sharing,
events/sharing platforms
 Support from the 20 experts strong CA Think-Tank: the
International CA Advisory Panel (ICAAP-Africa) Chaired
by Prof Amir Kassam. http://icaap.act-africa.org/
 Linkages with programmes that reduce climatic shocks
e.g. DRR

16. ACKONWLEDGEMETS TO
CCARDESA, USAID and FAO
for supporting the CARWG meeting
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
www.act-africa.org