Assessment of farmers’ perceptions and the effects of conservation agriculture adoption on maize and bean yields: A study of small-scale maize and bean farmers in Lesotho

This study investigated the adoption and impact of Conservation Agriculture (CA) among maize and bean farmers in Lesotho, focusing on factors influencing adoption and farmers’ yield perceptions. Surveying 807 farmers across seven districts using stratified random sampling, the study applied descriptive statistics and multinomial logit regression for analysis. Findings revealed low CA adoption rates: 51.8% non-adopters, 34.6% partial adopters, and 13.6% full adopters. Positive determinants of adoption included male gender, higher household income, farming experience, and especially CA training, while larger field size was a barrier, likely due to mechanisation issues. Among CA adopters, 94.6% perceived yield increases, with age, years of CA experience, and soil fertility perceptions strongly affecting perceptions on yields. Older and more experienced farmers were more optimistic, whereas those perceiving their soils as fertile sometimes reported yield declines, possibly due to transitional adoption challenges. The study recommends strengthening extension capacity, increasing availability of CA equipment, and conducting farmer demonstrations to foster wider adoption and understanding of CA system. These measures are essential for improving CA adoption, boosting resilience, and supporting sustainable productivity and food security in Lesotho’s smallholder farming sector facing climate change and soil fertility decline.