At the latest stages of land-use intensification
Stage 3: Intensive market-oriented and specialized agriculture
Where market integration is more recent, limited land degradation, important agricultural incomes and well-established service provision systems (e.g. combining ploughing and pesticide application services) impose considerable limits to the diffusion and long term adoption of CA
Stage 4: Intensive mixed farming systems
Ecologically- and economically-sound alternative to conventional intensive monoculture... At this stage, farmers also tend to be been more willing to experiment with complex CA systems based on intercropping and crop rotations
Interview of Mr Sinouane, Khonken (Paklay district), June 13, 2009
[When did you start conservation agriculture?] I started three or four years ago.
[What was your initial motivation?] I went to the project meetings, followed the advice of the technicians and started with two plots of maize. I had a very good harvest that year. This would have been impossible with the conventional system because there was a drought and, in that case, ploughing causes problems of dry soil and ends with low yields.
[What was your motivation for participating to the project activities?] I wanted to change from conventional agriculture because it is too expensive. You have to pay for everything, for ploughing, for herbicides, for labour .
