Zambia, Africa

When implementing one-size-fits-all conservation policies outsiders not only do not consider the local people but they do not consider the environment itself. The local environment changes depending on where one is in the world and one cannot expect the same strategies to work on a global scale. This case in Zambia, Africa was unsuccessful because outsiders believed that they could use the same techniques for growing more crops in Zambia that they used in South America. This failed because the environment, specifically the soil, in these regions is very different. The form of conservation farming that they used utilized planting basins and hand hoes, which they gave to 280 farms throughout Zambia to see if they could increase maize production. The local farmers got the option of which type of maize to use and were instructed on how to manage the farms. Certain things like rainfall and pH of the soil were measured regularly. After the experiment, researchers found that, for the most part, the conservation farming did not cause the amount of maize crops to increase compared to the amount produced the traditional way. Factors like the rainfall and condition of the soils played a role in which farms were successful vs which were not. At the end, authors point out that these interventions were not successful due to factors like means and infrastructure necessary for success for the specific programs. This study demonstrates how complex environmental management can be, especially in other (unfamiliar) regions of the world. One has to consider many other factors of the current environment and the means of the people before assuming certain practices will be successful. Just because certain techniques work in one region of the world, with one group, does not mean that they will work to improve the environment everywhere. One must consider local knowledge and resources.