Measuring sustainability of conservation and conventional practices in maize production in Ghana

Scientists and researchers worldwide have recommended Conservation Agriculture as one that has the potential to promote sustainability in agriculture. This paper attempts to measure and compare the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of both conservation and conventional practices used for maize production in the northern region of Ghana employing the Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT) approach. Based on the three pillars of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental), adopters of minimum tillage practice (scoring 0.5, 0.6, 0.82) and the combined adoption of minimum tillage and integrated organic-inorganic fertilizer application (scoring 0.53, 0.5, 0.88) emerged as sustainable practices. Despite these scores, the z-test of difference in means of the conservation practices and conventional ones were all insignificant, indicating that the conservation practices in use were not different from the conventional ones in terms of their contribution to sustainable maize production. Technical assistance and training that aids in ensuring the appropriate application of conservation practices should be ensured if the goal of sustainability is to be realized.