Using Sustainable Rural Livelihoods framework to analyze the determinants of adoption and disadoption of conservation agriculture in Western Madagascar

Conservation agriculture (CA) is known as a potentially efficient technique to address land degradation issues. CA has been promoted in Western Madagascar where farmers' livelihood is weakened by soil fertility. However, the low adoption rate of CA raises the question of its suitability to smallholder farming systems. The aim of this study is to assess, through an econometric analysis, the determinants of CA adoption and disadoption. Drawing on primary data collected in 2015, we conclude that financial and natural capitals are the main factors explaining CA adoption among farmers. More specifically, the findings show that the ownership of upland areas, the access to credit and the total income per capita does not influence significantly the probability to be a disadopters but affects the probability to be still adopters with respect to that to be a non-adopter. (Résumé d'auteur