Assessing the Sustainability of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) through Conservation Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A Multi Case Study Approach
Bernard Chazovachii 
, Leonard Chitongo , Elias Madzudzo , Julian Chazovachii & Manasa Sibanda
Issue: Vol.6 No.10 Article 5 pp.2289 – 2303
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256105 | Published online 17th September, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
A transition to Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an obligatory task to ensure food security for an anticipated nine billion people by 2050. Despite the significance that CSA through conservation agriculture (CA) in particular received, there has been an increase in disenchantment with the approach due to its intangible rigour. The sustainability of CSA remains shrouded in mystery. CA sustainability among smallholder communal farmers has remained untheorised. It is against this backdrop that the paper sought to assess the sustainability of CSA through Conservation farming by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe through a cross-country multi-case study approach. This paper highlighted the limiting factors of agricultural production in Zimbabwe and critically examines conservation agriculture as a potential solution to address many of these challenges. The various dimensions of CA were examined to understand the factors that influence the spread of the technology across spatial and temporal contexts. The paper concluded that CA excludes marginal groups like child-headed households, widows and the chronically ill. Environmentally, CSA minimizes adverse externalities, preserves soils with favourable micro-climatic effects, and sequesters an amount of carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, thereby mitigating temperature changes. Therefore, CSA is environmentally sustainable but economically, institutionally and socially compromised. This study contributes to social science scholarship by addressing a theoretical gap in the sustainability of CA practice, especially among smallholder farmers, bringing to the fore inclusivity, social exclusion and multidimensionality in CSA practice and providing a nuanced, evidence-based comparative critique.
Keywords: Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), Conservation Agriculture (CA), Conservation, Sustainability
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Bernard Chazovachii (Prof) is an Associate Professor, Executive Dean, Julius Nyerere School of Social Sciences, Great Zimbabwe University. He is well published in reputable journals in the areas of rural and urban livelihoods, rural institutions and production systems, smallholder irrigation agriculture, project planning, monitoring and evaluation and managed four grants as a principle investigator. He can be contacted on bchazovachii@gzu.ac.zw
Leonard Chitongo (PhD) is a hardworking and self-motivated individual who is always excited to face new challenges in his academic and professional career. He is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. He is strongly interested in researching issues that affect human and social development. He has published several articles on rural and urban resilience, housing, livelihoods, and public policy. He can be contacted on vachitongo@gmail.com
Elias Madzudzo (PhD, Roskilde; M.A. Cambridge) is a Lecturer in the Community Studies Department, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe. He lectures on Classical and Contemporary Social Theory and Sociology of Medicine. His research interests include Sociology of Health, Rural and Urban Development and Ethnicity. He can be contacted on emadzudzo@staff.msu.ac.zw
Julian Chazovachii is an Acting chairperson, in the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Psychiatry, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Great Zimbabwe University. She is a public health specialist with bias in community health. She can be contacted on jchazovachii@gzu.ac.zw
Manasa Sibanda (PhD) is a Social Anthropologist and currently the Deputy Dean of the School of Social Sciences at the Great Zimbabwe University. His research interests are indigenous knowledge systems, sustainable livelihoods, NGOs, conservation, climate change and issues in demography. He has also consulted on a wide range of development programmes and planning as well as social dimension in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for municipalities and non-profit organisations. In addition, he is an external examiner to six reputable universities, where he has examined MSc, MPhil and PhD thesis. He can be contacted on msibanda@gzu.ac.zw
Chazovachii, Bernard, Leonard Chitongo, Elias Madzudzo, Julian Chazovachii, and Manasa Sibanda. “Assessing the Sustainability of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) through Conservation Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A Multi Case Study Approach,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no. 10 (2025): 2289 – 2303, https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256105
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
