CONTESTATIONS AND CONFLICTING LIFEWORLDS IN CONSERVATION FARMING PRACTICES IN ZIMBABWE: THE EXPERIENCES OF PEASANT SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN CHIVI SOUTH DISTRICT IN MASVINGO

This study builds on an earlier research done by the researchers in Chivi south district on the impact of conservation farming on food security. The major focus of this study however is on the conflicts and contradictions embedded in conservation farming owing to differential perceptions and life-worlds and implications thereof on sustainable agriculture. It contends that these diverging and conflicting life-words are counter-productive and inimical to the goal of sustainable development in general and sustainable agriculture in particular. The treatise argues that unless and until an interface analysis is implemented to try and sever the impasse, conservation farming just like the preceding farming intervention programs proffered by the state and non-state state actors as the panacea to the incessant food insecurity quagmires bedeviling perennially drought prone regions, will be rendered obsolete. Findings in this study reveal that the conservation farming project is shrouded in perpetual conflicts and struggles pitting several stakeholders involved in the program. The study was grounded in qualitative methodology and adopted unstructured interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and expert interviews as the main data gathering techniques. Norman Long's Actor Oriented Approach (AOA) was the theoretical lens used in the research as the major analytical framework to understand and bridge the impasse for conservation farming to have meaning to the stakeholders and leave up to its hype in rural development

Student accounts of space and safety at a South African university: implications for social identities and diversity

Transformation efforts in South African higher education have been under increased scrutiny in recent years, especially following the last years of student activism and calls for decolonization of universities. This article presents data from a participatory photovoice study in which a group of students reflect on their experiences of feeling safe and unsafe at an urban-based historically disadvantaged university. Findings highlight the way in which historical inequalities on the basis of social identities of race, class, and gender, among others, continue to shape experiences, both materially and social-psychologically, in South African higher education. However, and of particular relevance in thinking about a socially just university, participants speak about the value of diversity in facilitating their sense of both material and subjective safety. Thus, a diverse classroom and one that acknowledges and recognizes students across diversities, is experienced as a space of comfort, belonging and safety. Drawing on feminist work on social justice, we argue the importance of lecturer sensitivity and reflexivity to their own practices, as well as the value of social justice pedagogies that not only focus on issues of diversity and equality but also destabilize dominant forms of didactic pedagogy, and engage students’ diverse experiences and perceptions

The Intensity of adoption of Conservation agriculture by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe

This article assesses the intensity of technology adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) techniques by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. It seeks to understand the drivers of CA adoption intensity in terms of the number of practices implemented using count data analysis. On average, the farmers in our sample adopt five out of eight possible CA practices while only 7.4% use all eight practices in any one year. Practices such as digging planting basins (81.9%), applying manure (73.2%) and timely post-planting weeding (70.1%) are relatively popular, while adoption of crop rotation (22.8%) is comparatively rare. Productivity is positively correlated to the number of techniques used. Farmers adopting all the CA practices are the most productive, with an estimated maize yield of 2.50 tons/ha, compared with a yield of less than 1 tons/ha for those using three techniques or fewer. Results from a Poisson regression indicate that education, agro-ecology, non-governmental input support and extension support have a significant impact on adoption intensity. Subsidised inputs increase the number of components used, although access to those inputs was uneven across regions of Zimbabwe. Further, the number of CA components used in the previous season positively impacts current season adoption intensity, implying that promotions of CA technologies do have a persistent effect, even after those promotions end.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ragr202016-12-31hb201