Conservation agriculture refers to a range of soil management practices that
minimise effects on composition, structure and natural biodiversity and reduce
erosion and degradation. It holds tremendous potential for all sizes of farms
and agro-ecological systems, but its adoption is perhaps most urgently required
by smallholder farmers, especially those facing acute labour shortages. It is a
way to combine profitable agricultural production with environmental concerns
and sustainability and it has been proven to work in a variety of agroecological
zones and farming systems. The purpose of this book is to show how conserving
agriculture can increase crop production while reducing erosion and reversing
soil fertility decline, improving rural