View article

Sub-Saharan Africa is faced with the challenge of improving current food security on highly degraded land. At the same time, the region has to develop strategies to ensure future food security for the increasing population under worsening climate change. Conventional tillage (CT) has for many years resulted in the deterioration of soil quality through depletion of soil organic matter. This review of literature provides an overview of the impact of conservation agriculture (CA) on soil quality with particular emphasis on key soil physical, chemical and biological properties. This paper also discusses impact of CA on yield, highlighting South African research gaps since the adoption is still very low in the country. The review of numerous studies indicated that soil quality and yield improvements are possible in CA although some negative results have also been reported under contrasting environments. Yield under CA were …