A draft working report on: Conservation agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: A review

Abstract

This chapter reviews the experiences and achievements of conservation agriculture and the challenges to its adoption in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Conservation agriculture (CA), based on no-till (NT) production system with crop rotations and residue retention on the soil surface, has been introduced in North Africa. But despite promising research results, adoption is still very low. The major constraint to rapid CA adoption and its wide-scale dissemination among farmers in MENA remains the unavailability of affordable NT drills in the region and the absence of a clear strategy to implement a CA development programme for wide adoption by all types of farmers. Therefore, a renewed focus is needed on One of the objectives of this paper has been to synthesize available information on CA and identify interlinked food security and development challenges for the MENA region. We have also offered several suggestions on how CA will help to improve food security based on other regions’ experience and the literature, but more research is needed to tailor policy and investment recommendations to country-specific circumstances.