Abstract Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted as a pathway to sustainably intensify agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet despite decades of promotion, CA uptake in SSA remains sparse with only few analyses of its impacts on farming and rural livelihoods. This study, which focuses on areas in Central Malawi considered to have a relatively high uptake of CA, uses analyses of satellite images, field observations, interviews with farmers, extension workers and other people involved in CA promotion, as well as a household survey, to investigate how CA has been adapted. We find that the three CA principles – (1) continuous minimum tillage, e.g. no-ridging, (2) permanent ground cover, and (3) crop rotation/intercropping – were not practiced as intended. First, one-third of non-ridged land was tilled during the growing season, and half was again ridged in the following season. Second, unless crop residues were added, the soil’s surface of non-ridged plots was usually bare at planting, causing weed control problems, and an increased risk of erosion. Most farmers added large volumes of crop residues to their non-ridged plots. They collected these from the surrounding fields, but this practice severely restricted the size of these plots. Third, crop rotation/intercropping was practiced less when farmers stopped ridging. Thus overall, very few farmers practised all of the three CA principles simultaneously. CA promotion appeared to only increase yields on plots where mulch was added, but this practice is not scalable. CA promotiondoes not seem to have provided substantial benefits for overall farm productivity, labour-savings or soil conservation.

中文翻译：

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适应但不采用？马拉维中部的保护性农业

摘要 保护性农业 (CA) 已被广泛推广为撒哈拉以南非洲 (SSA) 可持续集约化农业的途径。然而，尽管进行了数十年的推广，但在 SSA 中对 CA 的吸收仍然很少，对其对农业和农村生计的影响分析很少。这项研究侧重于马拉维中部被认为具有相对较高的 CA 吸收率的地区，使用了卫星图像分析、实地观察、对农民、推广人员和其他参与 CA 推广的人员的访谈，以及一项家庭调查，调查 CA 是如何适应的。我们发现三个 CA 原则——(1) 连续最少耕作，例如免垄，(2) 永久地面覆盖，和 (3) 轮作/间作——没有按预期实施。首先，三分之一的非脊地在生长季节被耕种，在接下来的赛季中，一半再次隆起。其次，除非添加作物残留物，否则无脊地块的土壤表面在种植时通常是裸露的，这会导致杂草控制问题，并增加侵蚀风险。大多数农民在他们的非脊状地块中添加了大量的作物残留物。他们从周围的田地收集这些，但这种做法严重限制了这些地块的大小。第三，当农民停止垄作时，轮作/间作的做法较少。因此总的来说，很少有农民同时实践所有三个 CA 原则。CA 推广似乎只会增加添加了覆盖物的地块的产量，但这种做法是不可扩展的。CA 推广似乎没有为整体农场生产力、劳动力节省或土壤保持提供实质性好处。