Conservation tillage covers a wide spectrum of production systems, ranging from zero-tillage systems to reduced tillage systems, using various forms of traction; manual, animal or tractor. Each conservation tillage system forms part of, and interacts with, the prevailing farming system (e.g., mulch-fodder conflicts), which in turn will affect physical and socio-economic parameters on a watershed scale (e.g., upstream/downstream water availability and labour allocation). In this paper results are presented from on-farm conservation tillage experiments in Tanzania. The focus is not only on yield data from different tillage systems but also on the participatory research method used in carrying out the trials. The results indicate a large potential of achieving substantial increases in staple food crop yields and reduced traction needs, by adopting conservation tillage systems designed to fit in prevailing socio-economic and agro-ecological environments.