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sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Adoption of the “Conservation Farming” practice in Maize Production by Small holder Farmers in the Makoni District of Zimbabwe

Auteur : Gono Nyeverwai

Université de soutenance : Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences

Grade : Master in Management of Development Specialisation Rural Development and Food Security 2012

Résumé partiel
The research is about the adoption of “conservation farming” practice in maize production by small holder farmers of Makoni District in Zimbabwe as recommended by GOAL Zimbabwe. GOAL Zimbabwe is a Non-Governmental Organisation working in three provinces namely Harare, Manicaland and Mashonaland West provinces. The organisation works in relief and development work in the agriculture, health and education sectors. In 2004 GOAL Zimbabwe started to promote “conservation farming (CF)” in maize production in Makoni district. After eight years less than 30% of the targeted 27 000 targeted smallholder farming households have adopted CF in maize production as recommended by GOAL Zimbabwe. However GOAL Zimbabwe does not really understand the real reasons for this low adoption and the reasons for non adoption of CF practice in maize production. The objective of this research is to find out the reasons why the targeted farmers did or did not adopt the recommended CF in maize production. In order to achieve the objective the following research questions were formulated : 1.Why are farmers willing or not willing to use “conservation farming” practice in maize production ? 2. What knowledge on “conservation farming” practice do farmers have ? 3. Which skills and resources enable farmers to use “conservation farming” practice in maize production ? 4. Which farming methods are allowed in the area ? Two Focus Group discussions, interviews with individual farmers and with extension agents in one randomly selected village were used to answer the four mentioned questions.

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