Constraints to adoption of Conservation Agriculture in the Angonia highlands of Mozambique: Perspectives from smallholder hand-hoe farmers

Conservation agriculture (CA) is a set of practices widely promoted to increase productivity while conserving soil through reduced tillage, mulching, and crop rotation. I explore the constraints to CA adoption through in-depth interviews with 18 CA farmers, four dis-adopters and 11 non-adopters in one community where two NGOs have been promoting CA. One NGO promotes the basin method with compost production while the other promotes direct seeding with herbicide use. Though the farmers described many benefits in using CA there was little sign of adoption beyond the plots where NGOs provided inputs.