Agriculture’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals requires climate-smart and profitable farm innovations. In the
past decade, attention has been given to conservation agriculture as a ‘sustainable intensification’ strategy, although a lack of
evidence-based consensus on the merits of conservation agriculture prevails in the context of intensive smallholder farming
in South Asia. A meta-analysis using 9,686 paired site–year comparisons representing different indicators of cropping-system
performance suggest significant (P < 0.05) benefits when conservation-agriculture component practices are implemented
either separately or in tandem. For example, zero tillage with residue retention had a mean yield advantage of 5.8%, a water
use efficiency increase of 12.6%, an increase in net economic return of 25.9% and a reduction of 12–33% in global warming
potential, with more-favourable responses on loamy soils and in maize–wheat systems. Results suggest that there are opportunities
to maximize expected benefits, and policymakers and development practitioners should continue to be appraised of the
potential of CA for contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals in South Asia.
