Redefining conservation agriculture through appropriate use of herbicides and fertilisers to improve crop production in Mozambique

The effects and applicability of conservation agriculture in different farming contexts are highly contested. Yet, there has been limited attempt to adapt the conservation agriculture system to the conditions of resource-poor farmers, focusing primarily on the existing farmers’ capacity and objective to practice conservation agriculture. The study assessed the factors that influence adoption and dis-adoption of conservation agriculture as well as the impact and identified prospective components for successfully implementing it in rain-fed agriculture in Angonia (Mozambique). A structured questionnaire was randomly administered to 192 conservation agriculture farmers to collect data through a multistage sampling process. The study employed descriptive statistics, multinomial logistic regression to examine possible causal relationships among variables and literature review. The result shows that farmers are motivated to use conservation agriculture because of the increased yield, soil fertility and improved soil moisture. Lack of herbicides and reduced tillage equipment are two major challenges to implementing conservation agriculture. Regression analysis reveals that farmers would likely use minimum soil disturbance over other approaches. The study then proposes the appropriate use of herbicides to address the weed control issue; the use of fertilisers to generate immediate outcomes and enough vegetative cover; and the design of locally available and affordable reduced tillage equipment to accommodate resource-poor farmers. The government and stakeholders should work together to address market imperfections, including the establishment of agricultural input facilities. The study identifies the contextualised conditions required for designing and implementing conservation agriculture in pro-poor farming systems.