Are emerging farmers the missing link for mechanised Conservation agriculture? Viewpoints from Zambia

ABSTRACT

Conservation agriculture’s (CA) potential to improve resilience to climate change, environmental degradation, and food insecurity across Africa is hampered by critical challenges, especially high labour requirements without mechanisation. Yet, whether medium-scale farmers owning 5–100 hectares of farmland and tractors can be the antidote for CA upscaling remains unclear. Based on insights from Zambia, the authors argue that medium-scale farmers can contribute to CA upscaling since they cultivate large farms and rent tractors to smallholder farmers. Harnessing the synergies between CA, mechanisation, and medium-scale farmers requires research on how they perceive CA, the enabling environment for mechanised CA, and appropriate policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Mechanised conservation agriculture
• emergent farmers
• hiring services
• mechanisation
• Zambia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Godfrey Omulo

Godfrey Omulo is an Agricultural and Biosystems Engineer. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute) of the University of Hohenheim, Germany. His Ph.D. is supported by the DAADs International Program in Agricultural Economics, Bioeconomy and Rural Development. The focus of his research is on sustainable small and medium-scale agricultural mechanisation in Zambia and on conservation agriculture as strategies to combat the impacts of climate change on food security across Africa through climate-resilient practices. He is also an expert in bio-renewable energy conversion processes.

Thomas Daum

Dr. Thomas Daum is a research fellow at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute) of the University of Hohenheim, Germany. His research focuses on agricultural development strategies that are sustainable from an economic, social and environmental perspective. He is part of the Program of Accompanying Research for Agricultural Innovation (PARI), which aims to contribute to sustainable agricultural growth and food and nutrition security in Africa and India. He is working as a freelance journalist for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”

Karlheinz Köller

Dr. Karlheinz Köller is the former head of the Department of Process Engineering in Plant Production at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. He has over 40 years of research and professional experience in Agricultural machinery and processing technologies, mechanization, conservation agriculture, renewable energy, measurement and testing technologies and extension services. He is the chairman of the association for the promotion of the German Agricultural Museum of the University of Hohenheim.

Regina Birner

Dr. Regina Birner is Chair of Social and Institutional Change in Agricultural Development at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Her research focuses on the political economy of agricultural policy processes and on the role of governance and institutions in agricultural development, with a focus on smallholder farming. Regina Birner is a member of the Advisory Council on Agricultural Policy of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and a member of the Advisory Council on Bioeconomy. She has been consulting with international organizations, including the World Bank, FAO and IFAD.