Report

Conservation Agriculture: South Africa’s New Green Revolution

“As farmers move from conventional to conservation farming, agricultural
production becomes more resilient to climate variability, and therefore to at least
some aspects of anticipated climate change. The components comprising Conservation Agriculture (CA) (a trifecta of no-till or minimum-till
farming, permanent soil cover and crop rotations) have existed for nearly a
century, but uptake has generally been slow and uneven (FAO, 2011a; Knowler
and Bradshaw, 2007). Though adoption of no-till farming has been widespread
in South America, rates in sub-Saharan Africa (including South Africa) remain particularly low, necessitating government support through targeted and integrated policy-making”