Impact of Conservation Agriculture and Biochar Interventions on Labour Demand and Productivity in Uganda: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Conservation agriculture (CA) and the use of biochar as a soil amendment can promote productive, resilient, and sustainable smallholder farming. However, adopting these practices requires a shift from conventional methods, potentially changing labour use and returns, the extent of which remains poorly understood. Using data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 400 farmers designed to be representative of smallholder farmers in two districts of Uganda, this study assesses how an informational intervention (delivered through instruction and participatory field demonstrations) on CA methods with and without biochar affect labour use and productivity. Control group farmers were compared to those receiving (i) CA and (ii) CA+BIOCHAR interventions. First difference and inverse probability–weighted regression-adjustment model results indicate that the CA+BIOCHAR intervention increased labour use, with no significant labour productivity gains, compared to the control group. Labour input rose by about 36