Conservation
Agriculture for Food security and Wealth creation
CA is a
technology which is based on the principles of minimum soil disturbance;
maximum soil cover; mixing and rotating crops. The adoption of conservation
agriculture techniques is helping farmers to increase their yields and conserve
natural resources. It focuses on building farmers’ knowledge and skills, using
resources they have available and inputs that can be obtained locally. Since
adopting this approach, farmers are reporting increases in yields of sorghum,
millet and maize. Yield increases have been observed over three years, despite
adverse climatic conditions. Forexample a farmer called Charles
Kihara in Laikipia county observed that
he harvested 25bags of maize in one acre under CA from the previous low
of 6-7 bags using conventional means.
The economic gains from Conservation Agriculture are easily
identified on farms of nearly all types and sizes. .Farmers have experienced decreased
tractor hours, farm labor, machinery costs, fertilizer, insecticide, fungicide
and herbicide, and cost savings from reduced contour terracing and replanting
of crops following heavy rains. The economic gains from Conservation
Agriculture are easily identified on farms of nearly all types and sizes. Data
from southern Brazil show a dramatic reduction - 68.3% - in
man-hours/ha, which is the most important factor influencing adoption of CA.
Part of the satisfaction which CA generates, derives from the ability to
undertake other economic activities in the time saved, and thus increase total
income.
Although
conservation agriculture (CA) has been around for decades, it's only lately
started getting noticed by policymakers as an option to generate
an increase in wealth among rural population.Both policymakers and rural
development practitioners increasingly recognize that a short-term focus on
creating jobs or increasing income is insufficient to generate sustainable
rural development or achieve a long-term reduction in rural poverty.The economic benefits at the national
level are very important and they strongly argue for policy support for example
the estimated soil erosion benefits (avoided losses from sheet, rill and wind
erosion) for the United States under CA 1996 ranged from US$90.3 million to
US$288.8 million. Conservation agriculture is practiced on about 57 million ha,
or on about 3 percent of the 1 500 million ha of arable land worldwide. Most of
the land under CA is in North and South America. The level of CA adoption in
sub-Saharan Africa is below 10000ha.
 |
| CA practice as practiced by Margaret Wangui of Wakulima SHG in laikipia county. Photo taken on 9th may 2014 |
 |
Farmer's Conventional Practice
|
