The benefits of conservation agriculture

“The bottom line is that our soils are degrading at a very rapid rate. [One-third] of the world’s soils are degraded and most of these are in Africa. The main culprit is soil erosion.” So says Phalesa Motaung, a soil scientist working for Asset Research, an NGO focused on environmental and resource economics. Motaung, who specialises in regenerative agricultural practices, was speaking during a Stellenbosch-based virtual research symposium held on 14 March. In addition to the problem of soil erosion, yields are declining drastically, especially amongst subsistence farmers.

“It’s said there are yield gaps of [up to] 90% between smallholder farmers and commercial farmers.”

Motaung emphasises the duel nature of South Africa’s agriculture sector: a group of large commercial, highly mechanised producers, and hundreds of thousands of smallholder and subsistence farmers who are resource-poor and lack support.

“Both, [however], are dealing with declining soil quality, and part of the reason is that both [groups] are using