Heterogeneous preferences and the effects of incentives in promoting conservation agriculture in Malawi

Abstract

There is a great deal of interest in increasing food security through the sustainable intensification of food production in developing countries around the world. One such approach is through Conservation Agriculture (CA), which improves soil quality through a suite of farming practices that reduce soil disturbance, increase soil cover through retained crop residues, and increase crop diversification. We use discrete choice experiments to study farmers’ preferences for these different CA practices, and assess willingness to adopt CA. This research was supported by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme