Review on Conservation Agriculture in Ethiopia: Status of Application, Opportunities and Challenges

Conservation agriculture has been considered as the potential not only to increase the sustainability of agricultural productivity, but also to help works toward mitigation and adaption of climate change. Farming and soil management practices included in conservation agriculture are based on three core principles, which must be fulfilled concomitantly Minimum soil disturbance, Maintenance of permanent soil covers and Cropping system diversity, crop rotations. The objective of this document is therefore to review the implementation status, opportunities, challenges and limitation of conservation agriculture practices in Ethiopia. Conservation agriculture has economic as well as climatic advantages. The soil conservation practices, including minimum or no tillage have long been practiced by farmers with different approaches or systems in Ethiopia, conservation agriculture and its associated package of best practices were introduced in 1998. Presence of traditional practices contributing for conservation agriculture principle and socioeconomic and extension facilities are some of factors affecting adoption of conservation agriculture in Ethiopia while, Climate change prevention activities and untapped opportunity for the wide-scale promotion are some opportunities for adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Ethiopia. The principal goal of climate smart agriculture is identified as food security and development, while productivity, adaptation, and mitigation are identified as the three interlinked pillars necessary for achieving this goal. Key challenge with mainstreaming conservation agriculture systems relate to problems with up-scaling which is largely due to the lack of knowledge, expertise, inputs (especially equipment and machinery), adequate financial resources and infrastructure, and poor policy support.