Can conservation agriculture save tropical forests? The case of minimum tillage in Zambia

Hambulo Ngoma and Arild Angelsen ()
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Arild Angelsen: School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Postal: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business, P.O. Box 5003 NMBU, N-1432 Ås, Norway

No 02-2017, Working Paper Series from Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business

Abstract: Minimum tillage (MT) is a key component in the promotion of conservation agriculture (CA). This paper asks whether MT reduces cropland expansion and thus deforestation. We develop a simple theoretical household model of land expansion, and test hypotheses by estimating a double hurdle model using household survey data from 368 smallholders in rural Zambia. We find that about 19% of the farmers expanded cropland into forests, clearing an average of 0.14 ha over one year. Overall, MT adoption does not significantly reduce deforestation among households in our sample, while labor availability stimulate expansion. Yield augmenting agricultural technologies (such as MT) may not reduce expansion unless combined with other forest conservation measures.

Keywords: Cropland expansion; deforestation; minimum tillage; double hurdle; Zambia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 Q12 Q23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2017-04-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:nlsseb:2017_002

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