Abstract
This study builds on an earlier research done by the researchers in Chivi south district on the impact of conservation farming on food security. The major focus of this study however is on the conflicts and contradictions embedded in conservation farming owing to differential perceptions and life-worlds and implications thereof on sustainable agriculture. It contends that these diverging and conflicting life-words are counter-productive and inimical to the goal of sustainable development in general and sustainable agriculture in particular. The treatise argues that unless and until an interface analysis is implemented to try and sever the impasse, conservation farming just like the preceding farming intervention programs proffered by the state and non-state state actors as the panacea to the incessant food insecurity quagmires bedeviling perennially drought prone regions, will be rendered obsolete. Findings in this study reveal that the conservation farming project is shrouded in perpetual conflicts and struggles pitting several stakeholders involved in the program. The study was grounded in qualitative methodology and adopted unstructured interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and expert interviews as the main data gathering techniques. Norman Long's Actor Oriented Approach (AOA) was the theoretical lens used in the research as the major analytical framework to understand and bridge the impasse for conservation farming to have meaning to the stakeholders and leave up to its hype in rural development.
Highlights
This study was grounded in qualitative research methodology, with unstructured interviews, focus group discussions, transect walks, key informant interviews and secondary sources of data being utilized as the main data soliciting techniques
Unstructured interviews were used as the main method of data collection, and they enabled the gaining of in-depth insights into the politics surrounding the conservation farming program in Chivi
Transect walks in this study offered observational insights into the practical activities of conservations farming and how the villagers have responded to some of the prescriptions of conservation farming
Summary
The conservation farming program has been embroiled in protracted controversy and contestations as various stakeholders compete to assert their lifeworlds on other stakeholders. It has been observed that this program has largely been top – down in nature with dominant stakeholder imposing their ideas and decisions on the poor villagers. Such an approach has marred the realization of the intended goals and objectives of the intervention. That belief has led these NGOs into believing that what is good for one group is good for the whole “community” This generalization has impacted negatively on the success of the program as villagers felt that the program is an imposition meant to cater for the interests of the elite, pushing this farming enterprise into a political arena. What cannot be overlooked is the fact that researchers and exponents of conservation farming have overemphasized the technical side of conservation farming in relation to increased output thereby glossing over the socio-political dynamics of the said program and their implications on the success of the program
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