Dissemination
Area under No-tillage in different countries
One has to be aware that only a few countries in the world conduct surveys on the extent of no-tillage adoption and that in most cases the data is based on estimates made by farmer organizations, agro industry and other qualified informants. Table 1 shows the estimated area under no-tillage worldwide.
| Country | Area under No-tillage ha (FAO, 2011) Countries with > 100.000 ha |
|---|---|
| USA | 26.500.000 |
| Argentina | 25.553.000 |
| Brazil | 25.502.000 |
| Australia | 17.000.000 |
| Canada | 13.481.000 |
| Russia | 4.500.000 |
| China | 3.100.000 |
| Paraguay | 2.400.000 |
| Kazakhstan | 1.600.000 |
| Bolivia | 706.000 |
| Uruguay | 655.100 |
| Spain | 650.000 |
| Ukraine | 600.000 |
| South Africa | 368.000 |
| Venezuela | 300.000 |
| France | 200.000 |
| Zambia | 200.000 |
| Chile | 180.000 |
| New Zealand | 162.000 |
| Finland | 160.000 |
| Mozambique | 152.000 |
| United Kingdom | 150.000 |
| Zimbabwe | 139.300 |
| Colombia | 127.000 |
| Others | 409.440 |
| Total | 124.794.840 |
Source: Friedrich, T., Derpsch, R., Kassam, A., 2012
Readers of this paper, who think that their countries should be mentioned in this list, or that some numbers should be corrected, are invited to contact the authors giving credit of the sources of the information. Internationally accepted definitions of no-tillage should be used.
According to previous sources there would be 650,000 ha of no-tillage in Mexico. But this estimate was based on the number of no-till machines sold which was multiplied by average farm size. Newer data by CIMMYT showed that this system greatly overestimated the area under this practice.
While more than two thirds of the area under no-tillage in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Australia is permanently not being tilled, this is only the case in about 10 - 12% of the area in the USA (CTIC, 2005).
Despite the fact that the United States has the biggest area under no- tillage, it is interesting to note that in this country no-tillage accounts for only 25.5% of all cropland hectares. In Brazil no-tillage accounts for about 70%, in Paraguay for 75% and in Argentina 78.5% of all cropland hectares.
It is estimated that no-tillage is practiced on about 125 million hectares world wide. Approximately 45% of the technology is practiced in South America, 32% is practiced in North America, 14% in Australia and New Zealand, 4% in Asia, 3% in Russia and Ukraine, 1% in Europe and 1% in Africa Despite good and long lasting research in these last continents, no-tillage has had only small rates of adoption in Asia, Europe and Africa.
