Scaling up conservation agriculture in Southern Africa

The Regional report “Conservation Agriculture Entry Points into Regional and National Development Frameworks and Potential Investment Opportunities in Southern Africa” was conducted in 10 countries in Southern Africa, namely, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Through the project “Strengthening Coordination, Scaling Up and Governance of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa (SUCASA)”, FAO is working with partners in Southern Africa to overcome both policy, institutional and technical challenges to the scaling up of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Southern Africa.

The project has strengthened the role of National Conservation Agriculture Taskforces as multi-stakeholder outreach vehicles for scaling up CA in the targeted countries.

The Regional report based on research conducted in ten countries in Southern African Development Community (SADC) paints a positive picture of the future of conservation agriculture in Southern Africa. In parallel to public sector effort and action, the private sector has a major role to play in the adoption of conservation agriculture.

The slow uptake of Conservation agriculture (CA) among farmers in Southern Africa is due partly to the structural approach within which most CA has often been promoted in countries without alignment to national development frameworks.

The report highlights that to ensure the buy-in of CA among decision makers, it is important that CA identifies with regional and national policy frameworks and strategies that seek to address farmer productivity, through Climate Smart Agriculture and Climate Resilience.