Crop productivity among small-scale farmers in Zambia is constantly low mainly due to poor and unsustainable farming systems. As a solution, conservation farming (CF) is being advocated to scale up crop productivity. This study was undertaken to assess the rate of adoption and ascertain the impact of this practice on crop productivity among small-scale farmers in Kapiri Mposhi District. A structured questionnaire was administered to 252 farm householders randomly selected and data collected were analyzed using SPSS. About 91% of farmers are practicing the technology at different levels depending on the component adopted out of the six, namely minimum land tillage; laying out fixed planting basins; no burning of crop residues; planting and input application in basins; and rotation with nitrogen-fixing crops for soil fertility restitution, outlined by the Conservation Farming Unit (CFU). Some respondents (10.3%) have adopted five to six components of the technology, 39.7% four and 40.5% practicing only the reduced tillage. Overall, the adoption rate between 2000 and 2008 stands at 98.9%. Increased maize yield after CF adoption was recorded among 65.7% of the respondents with a gain in yield amounting to 2 tons/ha on average, which is three times more than the yield from conventional farming. It is, therefore, concluded that CF constitutes currently one of the major keys to increasing crop yield and productivity in Zambia. The extension service should focus on achieving the adoption of the technology on a larger scale to ensure food security in the country. To diffuse the adoption, the Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with other stakeholders should take a proactive role to strengthen and support extension services for the provision of farmers hands-on training, production and dissemination of training materials, increase in number of demonstration plots, backstopping in fields and for monitoring and evaluation of adoption and impact. It should also embark on full scale distribution of CF implements such as Chaka hoe, Magoye ripper and Teren rope within the current Fertilizer Support Programme Pack as incentive. A policy framework should be in place to link up farmers to markets to increase their confidence and scale up the adoption rate.

Key words 
Conservation farming, adoption, impact, farmers, crop productivity, new technology

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