Conservation Agriculture potential effects on soil erosion for rainfed crops in the Lake Alaotra region in Madagascar

Africa is facing an increasing population and food demand that has already led to large scale land use changes, increasing pressure on land and water resources (Drechsel et al., 2001). Soil degradation in tropical agro-ecosystems is strongly linked with water erosion of productive top soils. Such a process is particularly important for land dedicated to agriculture compared to natural ecosystems. It rapidly becomes an obstacle for achieving an increased food production in a more sustainable way in order to attend the growing population demand (Lal, 2007).