CLIMATE-SMART PRACTICES: EFFECTS OF AGROFORESTRY AND CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE ON SELECTED PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SOILS AND CROP PRODUCTIVITY AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS, IN NYIMBA, ZAMBIA

Abstract

Many smallholder farmers in the developing world live in adverse poverty, and rely on agriculture as their primary source of income and household food. In Zambia agriculture production is the main activity for people in rural areas of the country. The study evaluated the effects of climate-smart practices; Gliricidia sepium Alley cropping, conservation agriculture Basin, Ripping and conventional agriculture cropland on selected physicochemical properties of soil and crop productivity among smallholder farmers in Nyimba district, Zambia. Cropland under conservation agriculture Basin, Ripping, agroforestry gliricidia Alleyed cropping and conventional agriculture cropland hosting the practices for more than five years were considered for soil sample collection. Thirty (30) composite soil samples were collected six (6) from each practice following a zigzag pattern on soil surface depth of 0-30cm. The collected composite soil samples were analyzed from the University of Zambia Soil Science Laboratory. Soil laboratory results were analyzed with Minitab Statistical Software version 17. A multistage sampling technique was used to determine the sample of 194 smallholder farmers households. A Logistic regression model was used to assess factors affecting climate-smart practices adoption among sampled smallholder farmers using STATA Software 15MP. Propensity score match was also performed to evaluate the impact of climate-smart practices on crop productivity among adopters and non-adopters. Therefore, the study recorded significant effects (p< 0.05) of gliricidia Alley cropping, conservation agriculture Ripping and Basin on soil bulk density, porosity, power of hydrogen (pH), cation exchange capacity, available phosphorus, total nitrogen, exchangeable bases sodium, calcium and potassium. Exchangeable base magnesium was recorded insignificant across the considered practices off course with minimal mean variations with conventional agriculture cropland. The study’s propensity score matching results found, crop yields for all cultivated crops for climate-smart agriculture practices adopters to be 20.20% higher than CSAPs non-adopters. Whereas, implementing climate-smart agriculture practices increased staple food crop maize yields for adopters by 21.05% in the study area. in the study area. The study results show that implementing climate-smart agriculture practices has a potential to improve crop productivity per hectare and reclaiming depleted soil physicochemical properties.