Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - March 2026

This review assesses the effect of CA management on soil biological, chemical and physical properties. Results show that CA improves soil structure, enhances soil organic carbon sequestration, promotes microbial activity, increases water-use efficiency, and reduces erosion and nutrient losses. The paper also reports on environmental, economic, and social benefits of CA that include biodiversity conservation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved yields, and increased food system resilience. They also look at the the socioeconomic conditions, institutional frameworks, and policy interventions that shape CA adoption and impact and the CA research gaps and future of CA directions.

Nepal agriculture is challenged by environmental degradation, labor shortages, and increasing feminization of farming as a result of male outmigration. CA offers a solution but adoption needs to increase. This paper examines issues related to adoption CA as more women become empowered in agriculture. The surveyed 383 farmers across 3 Districts and found that 73% of respondents were willing to adopt CA because of climate concerns, economic incentives and market access. They believe that CA enhances sustainability, resilience, and income are also more likely to engage, while market dissatisfaction presents a challenge. Getting subsidies is associated with adoption of CA. Barriers for women include household responsibilities, lack of education and training, and limited financial access. They conclude that targeted policies, institutional support, and market-based incentives are essential for increasing adoption by women farmers. 

This paper from Uganda looks at the adoption of sustainable agricultural intensification practices (SAIPs) recommended for smallholder farmers.320 maize farmers were interviewed in 2 Districts. Results showed that improved maize varieties, conservation tillage, legume intercrop, integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), and integrated pest management (IPM) were adopted by 58, 36, 44, 52, and 56% of the farmers. Institutional factors were significant predictors of adoption. Socioeconomic factors only positively influenced adoption intensity for SAIPs. Two policy recommendations were to strengthen agricultural extension and promote the use of village level credit services to enhance adoption.

This paper does a social network analysis about CA agro-ecological efficiency (CAEE) in China from 2000 to 2020. They used a couple of models  to construct a correlation matrix that was used to explore the influencing factors. The overall result was that the CAEE in China is high and the spatial correlation network showed good connectivity and accessibility. The paper recommends the government should consider the correlation between different provinces in the process of promoting conservation agriculture, and guide the marginal provinces to better integrate into the network by smoothing the circulation of production factors. The government should also formulate regional CAEE improvement strategies with consideration of local conditions, so as to realize the long-term, effective and coordinated development of conservation agriculture in different provinces

This paper looks at the issue of residue burning in the rice-wheat areas of the Indo Gangetic Plains of India. This is an easy way for farmers to handle rice residue problems before planting wheat, but it has negative impacts on air pollution and GHG emissions. The authors analyzed data from 60 focused group discussions and 24 interviews with farmers and key stakeholders involved with agriculture to get perspectives on crop residue burning (CRB). The people surveyed highlighted the diversity of machinery used in this cropping system and identified the time from rice harvest to wheat planting to implement CR management.Farmers mentioned a mistrust and uncertainty of incentives  for no-burn CRM and access to no-burn technology and equipment.

This 2020 paper discusses Regenerative Agriculture (RA). They looked at 28 studies to identify activities that fit the definition of RA. Convergence was found to be related to environmental enhancement, and stress socioeconomic issues that impact food security, but the latter were general and lacked ways to implement. The paper suggests that the definition of RA and approach to farming should use soil conservation as an entry point to regenerate and improve various ecosystem services.

This article looks at agricultural mechanization innovation in the Global South since it is changing the the character of the agri-food systems with both positive and negative effects. This review provides an overview of the progress toward mechanization across the Global South, identifies drivers and barriers, assesses sustainability synergies and trade-offs, and discusses options to maximize sustainability outcomes. The review suggests that agricultural mechanization is needed to make agri-food systems more sustainable concerning various economic and social aspects, such as labor productivity, poverty reduction, food security, and health and well-being. Environmental aspects such as biodiversity loss and land degradation, and economic and social concerns related to lacking inclusiveness and growing inequalities, are among some negative effects. 

This paper reviews the international literature through a sustainability framework. It identifies precision CA, digital agriculture (DA) and resilient agriculture (RA) practices as being of value in meeting future challenges. They further note that although adopting CA, DA, and RA would improve the sustainability of present agriculture, adoption of these systems is slow. They recommend  more in-depth social science research to better understand how to get better uptake and barriers that impede farmer adoption.

This review article looks at the challenges and research needs for adoption of CA and improvement of crop-soil water conditions in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. This multidisciplinary and participatory study was the basis for the project "Research-based participatory approaches for adopting conservation agriculture in the Mediterranean Area-CAMA". There is an emphasis on smallholder farms. It uses a socio-economic analysis of the reasons that restrict the CA diffusion and legume crop improvement as a component of improved CA cropping systems, and the need for a network of long-term experiments on CA and soil characteristic modification.

This article applies an endogenous switching regression model to a case study of 2296 wheat fields in Morocco, to provide evidence on the socio-economic impacts of residue retention. 30% and 60% plus of crop residues were retained respectively on 35% and 14% of wheat fields. These levels of residue retention led to 22% and 29% more yields, 25% and 32% higher gross margins and 22% and 25% more consumption of wheat, respectively. Residue retention is economically and biophysically beneficial even for owners of livestock as the monetary value of the additional grain yield more than offsets the cost of purchasing an equivalent amount of feed from the market—all providing good economic justification for residue retention. Development and/or import of alternative feed sources, introducing crop insurance, and raising the awareness of the economic, biophysical and environmental benefits of residue retention among farmers are needed.

This is an interesting paper that looks at the conflicts between private interests and communal use of resources, for example the free grazing of crop residues. The objective was to assess the impacts of crop residue management on crop productivity in Burkina Faso. They use the AMBAWA model to simulate the flows of biomass and nutrients between crop and livestock systems at the village level scale for 4 types of farmers: subsistence-oriented crop farmers, market-oriented crop farmers, agro-pastoralists and pastoralists. The paper presents some interesting conclusions and suggests that the AMBAWA model can support discussion amongst stakeholders in order to co-design effective arrangements and practices for their sustainable use.

This paper analyzed in-depth, semi-structured interviews with farmers who implement CA to understand why they do so at limited intensities and what is needed to intensify their CA activities. Most farmers reported substantial yield increases related to input increases but constrained by financial resources. Overall, the intensity of CA use was constrained by physical, financial, human and informational resources. The paper proposes intensification of four principal components of CA over time; strategic tillage, soil protection, crop diversification and input management as opposed to strict packaging of CA practices. This will allow farmers to locally adapt CA to build their own way to complete CA utilization and with less need for subsidization.

This study explores the social inclusiveness of zero-tillage (ZT) wheat adoption in Bihar, India. ZT is a proven technology for enhancing wheat productivity while boosting profitability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plains. With an average landholding size of 0.39 ha, most farmers in Bihar depend on custom-hiring services to access the technology. They use a panel dataset from 961 wheat-growing households that spans a six-year period to analyze ZT adoption dynamics over time while accounting for the role of social networks and access to service provision. They find that as awareness of the technology increased the service economy expanded. Land fragmentation replaced total landholding size as a significant adoption determinant, which also affected the quality of ZT services received. Hence, farmers with small but contiguous landholdings appear to have gained a significant degree of access over time. We conclude that early-stage assessments may be misleading, and that private sector-based service provision can contribute to socially inclusive development outcomes as markets mature.

This paper describes conservation agriculture (CA) as a way of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The authors suggest that "CA can prove to be a viable option for meeting the targets of the sustainable agenda. This practice supports environmental, social and economic justice, which creates a holistic developmental route that supports the burgeoning population." CA also reduces production costs that favors farmer adoption. However the paper concludes that "while CA demonstrates significant benefits across scales, its adoption remains constrained by socioeconomic factors and limited mechanization in the smallholder context. Advancing CA requires a multidisciplinary, participatory research paradigm coupled with policy support, institutional support and capacity building for farmers. 

This paper starts by saying challenges from climate change require new eco-friendly systems to make farming economic with social dimensions compatible with the environment plus ecosystem resilience. The suggest that CA can help by increasing C-sequestration in soils and plants. This research looks into the benefits of improved SOC when using CA in Portugal from the INFOSOLO legacy database was analyzed through statistical methodologies and machine-learning approaches. 

Despite CA being promoted and a possible solution for food insecurity resulting from climate shocks and soil degradation, adoption in Malawi is still low. This paper looked at social capital as a way of approving adoption. The interviewed 1512 smallholder farmers to find out how different social capital elements influenced farmer decisions to adopt CA. Factors that positively affected adoption were group membership, relations with leadership, land size, extension services, livestock ownership, and available credit. Full adoption of CA was limited compared to partial adoption. They conclude that better policy is needed to promote farmer organizations, community engagement, and training programs to enhance adoption.

This paper explored farmer perspectives on adoption of CA in Nepal using a survey with key informant interviews and onsite observations. The paper highlights the economic, environmental, and social pillars of CA’s sustainability. They mention the importance of economic viability for farmers but also positive factors such as increased agriculture-related income, favorable prices, and sustainable productivity that shape farmers’ perceptions. Farmers view environmental sustainability by prioritizing and enhancing the local and global environment, viewing their farming methods as climate-smart and actively working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They conclude that strategic communication is needed to effectively convey the benefits of CA to rural communities.

CA requires  utilization of residues as mulch and effective weed management. But these two important elements are more complex than just focusing on weeds and residues. This paper explores these two issues to provide answers and questions to these two items. One issue is free-range grazing of livestock on the residues after harvest. Another is burning of these residues. Without the residue soil cover, weed management cannot use the benefits of mulching. Herbicides can help but are costly and need farmer training. Several recommendations are made in this paper, but depend on the socio-economic status dynamics at farmer and community level.

This paper surveyed 590 farmers in Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia to explore their perceptions of soil and tillage including innovation, community, adaptive capacity, and responsibility for soil. They found out that farmers have an awareness of soil as a living resource. Beliefs about the benefits of tillage for water availability and yield persist among the surveyed farmers. They also found that openness towards innovation, perceived adaptive capacity and responsibility for soil were associated with reduced tillage, whereas community integration was not. Education, age and farm lifestyle affected perceptions. They conclude that CA promotion in the Mediterranean should emphasize the multiple values of soil, should demonstrate how sufficient yields may be achieved alongside resilience to drought, and be tailored to differing levels of environmental awareness and economic needs across north and south.

This review gathers current knowledge on the potential agronomic, environmental and socioeconomic benefits and drawbacks associated with CA principles and presents the present agro-environmental  policy frameworks. Reduced tillage, growing cover crops, and implementing crop residue retention measures, have been proposed as cost-effective solutions that can address land degradation, food security, and climate change mitigation and adaptation by enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in soils and its associated co-benefits. They also show that research on CA improves soil physical, chemical, and biological properties that are crucial for maintaining soil health and increasing agroecosystem resilience.

For successful adoption of CA, knowing farmer perspectives is critical. The objective of this study was to investigate the biophysical, socio-economic, and technical constraints in the adoption of CA by farmers in the Western- and Eastern-IGP. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was administered to 50 households practicing CA in the Western- and Eastern-IGP. Results suggest economic profitability and soil health as core components from the farmer's motivational perspective. They conclude that scaling up of CA technologies should be targeted per site-specific requirements, emphasizing biophysical resource availability, socio-economic constraints, and future impacts of such technology.

This study from Eastern Kenya, looked at various climate change adaptation practices of smallholder farmers in terms of socioeconomic and institutional factors. Data was collected from 384 small-scale farms. Gender positively and significantly influenced adoption of conservation agriculture and water harvesting. Distance to markets positively or negatively influenced uptake of all the technologies. Age and distance to nearest markets should be considered during technology dissemination. The study recommends agricultural policy reforms that aim at designing incentive programmes that address the socioeconomic and institutional issues related to uptake of adaptation practices as well as encouraging off-farm diversification.

This study was carried out to investigate the behavior of smallholder farmers towards the adoption of conservation agriculture in 3 districts of Zimbabwe. Data was collected by interviewing farmers in focus groups, key informants and observations. Only 10% of farmers had received any training on agriculture although 80% relied on it for income and food. Many had knowledge of social, environmental and economic benefits of CA. But non-adopters had an indifferent perception towards CA. The paper concludes that addressing perception gaps of farmers is key to enhance adoption of conservation agriculture.

This paper compared the variation between participatory and traditional agricultural advisory models in training farmers on Conservation Agriculture in Kenya. Data on the assessment criteria used key informant interviews, personal observation and training reports. All advisory models built social networks, enhancing information diffusion, but at different levels. Of the participatory models, Landcare, exhibited greater farmer uptake of Conservation Agriculture and more developed social networks, while the participatory Farmer Field School model performance was similar to the traditional advisory model. Both participatory models were more expensive to deliver than the traditional model.

The aim of this study was to assess factors influencing experimenting and dis-adopting of CA using qualitative and econometric analysis in Madagascar. They showed a high (56%) tryout rate followed by a 80% dis-adoption rate. They conclude that monetary poverty (financial capital) and agricultural work (social capital) decrease the likelihood farmers will tryout CA. But the longer farmers receive CA technical support the less likely they dis-adopt CA. They suggest that in order for farmers to use CA to combat soil degradation it is important to tailor CA technology to the diversity of farms, plus innovations need to be supported for a longer period.