Rutendo Nhongonhema

Gender Sensitive Analysis of Conservation Agriculture: Insiza, Zimbabwe: a Case Study of Insiza District Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe Rutendo Nhongonhema

Conservation farming, is one of the practices being promoted so as to increase yield while conserving the productive resource base and sustainability of past productive gains. Zimbabwe, is a patriarchal society where women and men have distinct and different roles. Perceptions on conservation farming by farmers in agriculture may therefore differ along gender lines. The aim of the research was to identify what female and male farmers think are the best strategies to enhance the role of conservation arming as a buffer against social, economic and environmental hazards, and a means of ensuring livelihood sustainability and food security and to come up with information useful to policy makers on how to improve adoption of these technologies. The study concluded that farmers were of the opinion that CA was useful and has possible positive effects in addressing livelihood challenges effected by hazards such as HIV/AIDS and environmental hazards such as declining soil fertility but it is labour intensive therefore is not suitable for people infected by HIV and AIDS. The study concluded that though CA has many potential benefits which should be explored.