The Zambian case on conservation tillage and conservation farming is presented in relation to how the activities have been affected by policies and legislation that have been put in place from time to time. 

Three transitional periods when significant policy and legislation changes took place with their subsequent impacts on conservation activities have been identified as the colonial period, the post independence period up to 1991 and the period thereafter. 

The scenario is such that the policies and legislation did not and do not adequately support conservation tillage and conservation farming and general land management activities in a sustainable manner. More initiatives towards instituting more effective policies and legislation are still lacking. 
  
INTRODUCTION 

Institutionalized soil and water conservation in Zambia dates back to the early 1940s whereas traditional approaches to and knowledge of soil conservation go even farther back in history. Until recently, institutionalized approaches were top to bottom oriented and strictly enforced. 

Conservation tillage, defined as any tillage practice which leaves at least 30 % crop residue cover on the soil surface after planting (Vowel, 1989) has just started to pick up in Zambia. On the other hand, conservation farming, a phrase that embraces farming practices that ensure sustained and/or improved land productivity has been practiced for a very long time. 

A number of factors have influenced the trends in conservation tillage and conservation farming in Zambia. Most important are the farming community circumstances, the Government legislation and policies that have been put in place from time to time and the topography. 

There are three categories of Zambian farmers namely; small holder, emergent and commercial farmers. According to Technical Services Branch (1997), the smallholder and emergent farmers are most adversely affected in terms of agricultural production, due to their poor socio-economic status which limits heavy capital investment in farm operations and equipment. The smallholder farmers usually own average farm sizes of between 0.5 and 5 ha with a family size of 5 to 6 people. Production technologies are simple and there is a heavy reliance on family labour. This group is resource poor for medium and long term investment but it makes up about 92 % of the Zambian farming population and produces about 65 % of the food crop in the country. The emergent farmers make up about 6 to 7 % of the farming population whilst producing about 15 % of the country’s food. The average farm size is between 5 and 20 ha with extensive animal traction and or partial mechanization. Hired labour forms part of the production inputs and there is some element of improved land management. The last category is the commercial farmers which is rather independent and resource rich. 

Government legislation and policies related to agricultural resource conservation have undergone amendments over time and the responsibility of enforcing and overseeing the implementation of conservation activities has shifted from Ministry to Ministry and from department to department. All these have culminated into the fragmentation of the responsibilities among several Ministries and departments and to some extent, into the non enforcement of some conservation activities. 

The nature of the topography in Zambia has compounded the issues of conservation tillage and conservation farming to some extent. This is mainly due to the relatively gentle slopes that are found in most parts of the country. Chiti (1991) states that about 9 % of the country has average slopes of greater than 10 % while the rest of the country has average slopes of less than 10 % and that 91 % of the country is of a low to medium erosion hazard rating. 
  

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF LEGISLATION AND POLICY CHANGES 

From the time of European settlement, agricultural resource conservation was limited to dams and weirs on European farms and was conducted by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Water Development and Irrigation (Northern Rhodesia Government, 1954). In African farming areas, soil conservation promoted improved farming methods which minimised nutrient and soil physical deterioration. The policy had two characteristics. In European farming areas, there was a 50 to 60 % Government subsidy while in African farming areas, a levy was imposed on African maize growers from which a native fund was established to finance conservation works. 

In 1950, the Natural Resources Board (NRB) was established but the responsibility for conservation works was still under the Department of Agriculture. The NRB worked in European areas where Intensive Conservation Areas (ICA) committees were encouraged. The period between 1950 and 1953 was marked by two features. 

The period between 1953 and 1965 experienced significant policy and legislation changes. The ICA were changed into Regional Conservation Plans, the NRB created an African Affairs Committee to liaise with Native authorities and the Land Use Section within the Planning Branch of the Department of Agriculture was established (Chiti et al., 1989). Two acts were enacted namely the Agricultural Lands act of 1960 and the Natural Resources Act of 1962. 

The Agricultural Lands act of 1960 was to provide for the establishment of the Agricultural Lands Board; to prescribe the composition and membership thereof; to prescribe its powers and functions; to provide for tenant farming schemes; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing (Government of Zambia, 1965a) while the Natural Resources Act of 1962 was to make new provisions for the constitution of the Natural Resources Board; to provide for the establishment of the a Natural Resources Tribunal; to provide for the preparation and enforcement of conservation plans in designated areas; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing (Government of Zambia, 1965b). A number of amendments were made to the legislation through statutory instruments but with minimal changes in relation to natural resource conservation. The Agricultural Lands act did not address any soil and water conservation issues while the Natural Resources act mandated the NRB to prepare and enforce conservation plans in designated areas. 

By 1966, the Land Use Section was up graded into a Land Use Services Division charged with preparing regional catchment and farm conservation plans and their implementation. District Councils were mandated to maintain catchment conservation works. The supervision of farm level soil conservation was given to the Extension Branch of the Department of Agriculture. 

In 1970, the NRB was dissolved and the Natural Resources Conservation Act of 1970 enacted. This act was to provide for the establishment of a Natural Resources Advisory Board, to prescribe the powers, functions and duties of the Board, to provide for the Minister’s power to make orders for conservation of natural resources and for appointment of provincial and district natural resources committees, to provide for conservation plans and for establishment of fire Authorities and to provide for the repeal of the Natural Resources Ordinance and all matters incidental to the foregoing (Government of Zambia, 1970). This act led to the establishment of the Natural Resources Department which, theoretically, operated through committees. 

The legacy of fragmented implementation of conservation activities which was inherited from the colonial period continued up to the mid 1980s. The key features were; 

• Each Department continued to function as it saw fit.
• Land use Branch of the Department of Agriculture was concerned with resource conservation on cropland and dealing with commercial farmers mostly.
• The Natural Resources Department was dealing with gully and deforestation problems.
• Policy guidelines were usually dictated.

Major changes in strategies and priorities that had a more national outlook occurred after 1985. With the formation of SADC, concerted effort by member countries impacted on the reorientation of strategies. Other in-house programmes and projects that were launched such as the Land Management and Conservation Farming (formerly Soil Conservation and Agroforestry Extension (SCAFE)) began to influence the outlook on policies and strategies. Co-operation between Ministries and Departments improved greatly but the old policies and legislation continued to guide the operations. 

In 1990, the Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Act was enacted. This led to the establishment of the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ). This act which was meant to provide for the protection of the environment and the control of pollution; to establish the Environmental Council and to prescribe its functions and powers, and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing (Government of Zambia, 1990). It also repealed parts of some other acts and among other things empowered the ECZ with the responsibility for certain activities related to natural resources conservation. 

The change of Government in 1991 brought about drastic policy and legislation changes. Based on the documents „Framework for Agricultural policies to the Year 2000 and beyond" and „Statement of Agricultural Policies", the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries prepared a document „The Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (ASIP)" with the following as the main objectives of the Ministry; 

• To ensure national and regional food security through dependable annual production of adequate supplies of food stuffs;
• to ensure that the existing resource base is maintained and improved upon;
• generate income and employment;
• contribute to sustainable industrial development; and
• significantly expand the sector’s contribution to the national balance of payments.

The ASIP document has been the basis for the restructuring of the Ministry and the development of most policy documents, strategies and workplans of the Departments. For once, the Department of Field Services has come up with well articulated objectives and strategies related to land management and resource conservation. In particular, the Land Husbandry Sub-programme document of 1995 and the Land Management and Conservation Farming (SCAFE) document of 1997 stipulate clearly the objectives and strategies with emphasis on sustainable resource utilisation (Mwanza et al., 1995; Technical Services Branch, 1997). 
 

THE IMPACT OF POLICY AND LEGISLATION CHANGES 

Three periods can be delineated when looking at the impact of policies and legislation on conservation tillage and conservation farming. These are the colonial period, the post independence period up to 1991, and the period thereafter. 

During the colonial period, little or no conservation tillage was practised. However, conservation farming existed. It succeeded in the European farming areas because of subsidies and loan facilities whereas the partial success in the African farming areas was because of policy enforcement by law. There was serious resentment of the enforcers and the manner in which the practices were being imposed such that these same practices were later used as strong points for the rejection of colonial rule during the independence struggle. 

During the post independence period up to 1991, most conservation works and practices were completely abandoned as they were associated with colonialism and because of the policy of the government fertiliser and implement policy. The enactment of several legislations compounded the issue by fragmenting the responsibilities with no clear mandate as to who would be responsible for conservation tillage and conservation farming. The policies implicitly indicated the importance of conservation activities but did not explicitly expound on how conservation tillage and conservation farming would be enforced. Legislation was therefore inadequate in relation to the enforcement of conservation activities on cropland. 

Although some policy statements were translated into planning guidelines, there was no backup and follow up mandate during the implementation. Farmers could do what they felt like doing and nothing could be done about it. 

The post independence period up to 1991 therefore experienced a sharp decline in conservation activities but picked up during the mid 1990s. 

The period after 1991 has experienced a dramatic revival of conservation activities. Government Ministries, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) have seriously taken up conservation activities. This period has seen major policy re-orientation resulting in conducive environment for conservation activities. Still legislation is required for effective enforcement of certain activities. 

Although conservation tillage is not widely practised, a number of organisations are seriously advocating for it. The main drawback lies in people’s attitudes and lack of adequate research and evaluations for given socio-economic and cultural settings. 
 
SUMMARY 

In Zambia, conservation tillage and conservation farming have suffered from inadequate policy and legislation support. This has been in the form of fragmentation of responsibilities, uncoordinated programmes and projects and lack of explicit legislation to back some implementing Ministries and organisations. 

Three main transitional periods have been identified as the colonial period with its biased and sometimes unpopular policies, the post independence period up to 1991 when no serious and rational review and articulation of policy related to agricultural lands were made thus plunging conservation activities into deeper doldrums, and the period after 1991 when policies were revisited but still legislation on conservation tillage and conservation farming was inadequate. 

The Zambian conservation tillage and conservation farming scenario is therefore still in a transitional period. More ground work is needed in areas of policy and legislation to facilitate more research, better enforcement and quick adoption of activities. 
 

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