Assessment of factors affecting the adoption of minimum tillage practices in Sinazongwe district

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the factors that affect the adoption of minimum tillage practices in Sinazongwe District in Southern Province of Zambia. The study was based on sample survey data from the District. A Tobit analysis was used to identify the factors that motivate the level and intensity of adoption of Minimum tillage practices in the district. The article considers explanatory variables like the level of education of the household head, the household size, age of the household head, the sex of the household head, the marital status of the household head, total value of assets, farm size, dependence ratio, total area cultivated in ha, distance to the main road, access to credits, access to incentives, access to technical advice and livestock ownership.

The results showed that adoption of Minimum tillage in the District is explained by farm size, household size, the age of the farmer, level of education of the household head and livestock ownership. The findings revealed that a household's decision to adopt Minimum tillage is significantly responsive to farm size (p-value = 0.017), household size, (p-value = 0.005), the age of the farmer (p-value = 0.036), level of education of the household head (p-value = 0.054), and livestock ownership (p-value = 0.013). These are the factors that the extension agents ought to consider as they diffuse the information about the adoption of this technology.

Minimum tillage is an essential technology to improving the food security of smallholder farmers as well as providing a sustainable way of earning income. Extension education should emphasize the importance of the technology by explaining its several agronomic and economic benefits to the farmers. The government should introduce simple implements such as Magoye ripper at a reasonable cost so that farmers with smaller household sizes can use them. This would increase the adoption rates of the technology for it is labour intensive.