Soil Erosion Smartness of Sustainable Intensification Technologies Under Smallholder Farming Conditions of Southern Africa
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Rampant soil degradation associated with accelerated soil erosion on the continent of Africa is estimated to contribute to crop yield reductions of about 16%, let alone the current climate change challenges. This study sought to evaluate the soil erosion smartness of conservation agriculture based sustainable intensification technologies implemented on farmers’ fields in Malawi and Mozambique over a six-year period since 2010. Annual soil loss estimates by cropping system were made using the Soil Loss Estimation Model for Southern Africa (SLEMSA) on 48 farms. Each of the farms had implemented field experiments with one replicate per farm testing yield and resilience merits of three conservation agriculture (CA) systems relative to the commonly practiced conventional till. CA systems included mono-cropped continuous maize ( CA-sole ), maize rotated annually with a legume ( CA-rotations ) and maize intercropped with a legume ( CA-intercrops ). Data inputs on each farm included slope, soil type, seasonal rainfall and crop management data for each cropping system including measured yield for each season.Over the six seasons, mean soil losses amounted to 10.3, 2.0, 1.4 and 0.6 t ha -1 yr -1 for Conventional till, CA-sole, CA rotations and CA-intercrops, respectively. CA systems thus effectively reduced sheet erosion induced soil losses to below tolerable levels of 5 t ha -1 yr -1 . Conventional till systems were the most susceptible of the tested cropping systems while the CA intercrops portrayed the best resilience characteristics in terms of curbing sheet erosion. Increases in soil losses with increasing annual rainfall were characteristic across all but most dramatic in conventional till systems where soil losses exceeded the tolerable limit as soon as annual rainfall exceeded 800 mm and averaged at 2 t ha -1 for every 100 mm increase in annual rainfall. Yet under CA intercrops, soil losses remained below 5 t ha -1 even when rainfall amounts exceeded 1200 mm. Furthermore, conventional till systems were more susceptible to excessive soil losses when slopes exceeded 5%, thereby emphasizing the need for more caution in taking erosion control measures for conventional till systems implemented on sloppy terrain. Soil losses were also highly dependent on soil cover. The availability of dead crop residue mulches and live canopy cover from the crop enabled lower soil losses from the CA systems and in particular, from the CA intercrops which provided the highest soil cover of all systems. High yielding crops also enabled higher canopy cover and subsequently higher soil cover. Thus in the conventional till system low yielding crops, (< 1 500 kg ha -1 ) as often experienced on smallholder farms, were also highly susceptible to excessive sheet erosion soil losses thereby suggesting low yielding crops not only directly threaten human food security but also the sustainability of the soil. CA systems, especially those involving intercrops, were therefore found to be erosion smart and were rather insensitive to slope, seasonal rainfall amount and crop yield.Keywords:
Conservation Agriculture
Cropping system
Abstract New farming systems and management options are needed in South Asia as the intensive rice–wheat production system is set to become increasingly unsustainable under climate change. In the current study, six cropping systems options/treatments varying in tillage, crop establishment method, residue management, crop sequence and fertilizer and water management were evaluated using a cropping systems model under current (1980–2009) and future (2030 and 2050) climate scenarios in the state of Bihar, India. The treatments were current farmers' practice (CP), best fertilizer and water management practices, zero tillage (ZT) with no crop residue retention, ZT with partial crop residue retention (ZTPR), future conservation agriculture-based rice–wheat intensive cropping system (FCS-1) and future conservation agriculture-based maize–wheat intensive cropping system (FCS-2). The results indicate that climate change is likely to reduce rice–wheat system productivity under CP by 4% across Bihar. All the crop management options studied increased yield, water productivity and net returns over that of the CP under the current and future climate scenarios. However, the ZTPR treatment gave significantly higher relative yield, lower annual yield variability and a higher benefit-cost-ratio than the other treatments across cropping system components and climate periods. Although all the new cropping system treatments had a positive yield implication under the current climate (compared to CP), they did not contribute to adaptation under the future climate except FCS-2 in wheat. It is concluded that adaptation to future climate must integrate both cropping system innovations, and genetic improvements in stress tolerance.
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Carbon Footprint
Conventional tillage
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ABSTRACT: Soil conservation practices were successfully disseminated and adopted among farmers in Guaymango, El Salvador, whereas farmers in two similar areas failed to adopt them. Adoption was successful in Guaymango for two reasons. First, a recommendation was developed that combined both productivity-improving and soil conservation components. Second, these components were linked by economic and institutional incentives that encouraged adoption of both components. Issues crucial to long-term success of soil conservation recommendations are discussed, particularly the need for the recommendation to be compatible with the farming system and effective in minimizing soil degradation. Potential implications for research, extension, and policy are examined, with emphasis on technical requirements for developing system-management recommendations embodying productivity and conservation components.
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Rice-based cropping systems are the most energy-intensive production systems in South Asia. Sustainability of the rice-based cropping systems is nowadays questioned with declining natural resource base, soil degradation, environmental pollution, and declining factor productivity. As a consequence, the search for energy and resource conservation agro-techniques is increasing for sustainable and cleaner production. Conservation agriculture (CA) practices have been recommended for resource conservation, soil health restoration and sustaining crop productivity. The present study aimed to assess the different CA modules in rice-based cropping systems for energy conservation, energy productivity, and to define energy-economic relations. A field experiment consisted of four different tillage-based crop establishment practices (puddled-transplanted rice followed by (fb) conventional-till maize/wheat (CTTPR-CT), non-puddled transplanted rice fb zero-till maize/wheat (NPTPR-ZT), zero-till transplanted rice fb zero-till maize/wheat (ZTTPR-ZT), zero-till direct-seeded rice fb zero-till maize/wheat (ZTDSR-ZT)), with two residue management treatments (residue removal, residue retention) in rice-wheat and rice-maize rotations were evaluated for energy budgeting and energy-economic relations. Conservation-tillage treatments (NPTPR-ZT, ZTTPR-ZT, and ZTDSR-ZT) reduced the energy requirements over conventional tillage treatments, with the greater reduction in ZTTPR-ZT and ZTDSR-ZT treatments. Savings of energy in conservation-tillage treatments were attributed to reduced energy use in land preparation (69-100%) and irrigation (23-27%), which consumed a large amount of fuel energy. Conservation-tillage treatments increased grain and straw/stover yields of crops, eventually increased the output energy (6-16%), net energy (14-26%), energy ratio (25-33%), and energy productivity (23-34%) as compared with CTTPR-CT. For these energy parameters, the treatment order was ZTDSR-ZT ≥ ZTTPR-ZT > NPTPR-ZT > CTTPR-CT (p < 0.05). Crop residue retention reduced net energy, energy ratio, and energy productivity when compared with residue removal. Our results of energy-economic relations favored the "conservative hypothesis," which envisages that energy and monetary investments are not essentially the determinants of crop productivity. Thus, zero tillage-based crop establishments (ZTTPR-ZT, ZTDSR-ZT) in rice-based production systems could be the sustainable alternative to conventional tillage-based agriculture (CTTPR-CT) as they conserved non-renewable energy sources, reduced water requirement, and increased crop productivity.
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Zero tillage with crop residue retention which is principle of conservation agriculture (CA) can be a good practice to achieve sustainable and profitable crop yield without affecting soil fertility. This approach was not tested in wheat and lentil based maize-mungbean system in far western Nepal. The effect of CA in the maize-wheat-mungbean and maize-lentil-mungbean cropping systems with two varieties of each of wheat and lentil was studied at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Bhagetada, Dipayal, Doti district of Nepal for two years (2015 and 2016). The average grain yield of wheat and lentil under the CA system was 5.92% higher (2.86 t ha−1) than that of conventional agriculture (2.70 t ha−1). The CA under maize-wheat-mungbean cropping system produced 7.90% higher grain yield (4.78 t ha−1) compared to conventional agriculture and the CA under maize-lentil-mung bean cropping system gave11.11% higher grain yield (1.00 t ha−1). Maize-wheat-mungbean cropping system, conservation agriculture and WK 1204 variety of wheat produced 9.34% higher yield (4.80 t ha−1) than conventional agriculture whereas maize-lentil-mungbean cropping system, conservation agriculture and Khajura1 variety of lentil recorded 11.96% higher grain yield (1.03 t ha−1) than conventional agricultural. The CA system produced 114% higher net benefit (NRs. 40200 ha−1) than that of conventional agriculture. Higher yields of crops in CA system could be associated with improvement of soil properties for minimum soil disturbance and residue retention and profitable yield for reduced cost of production. Thus, the 2-year study suggests that no tillage with previous crop residues retention and use of higher yielding varieties is a potential crop cultivation approach for the maize based cropping system in light textured soil of river basin area of Nepal in order to sustain soil health, crop yield and farm economy. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 16(3): 403–410, December 2018
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One of the cornerstones of conservation agriculture is stubble retention. Residue cover of at least 30% directly after seeding is prescribed to qualify as conservation agricultural practice and thereby contributes to ensure sustainable crop production. The aim of this study was to quantify residue cover of the soil surface as influenced by tillage practice and crop rotation. The current study is a component study within a long-term tillage/cropping system trial. Three crop rotations, continuous wheat (WWWW), wheat/medic/ wheat/medic (WMcWMc) and wheat/ canola/wheat/lupin (WCWL) were allocated to main plots replicated four times. Each main plot was subdivided into four sub-plots allocated to four tillage treatments, namely: zero-till – soil left undisturbed; no-till – soil left undisturbed until planting and then planted with a tined, no-till planter; minimum till – soil scarified March/April and then planted with a no-till planter; and conventional tillage – soil scarified late March/early April, then ploughed and planted with a no-till planter. The linetransect method was used to estimate residue cover immediately after planting. Mean residue cover during 2012 was at similar levels for both sites with Langgewens and Tygerhoek recording mean residue cover values of 53 and 59% respectively. At Langgewens the zero-, no-, minimum- and conventional-till treatments resulted in 98, 63, 29 and 5% residue cover respectively. The percentage residue cover recorded at Tygerhoek for the zero-, no-, minimum- and conventional-till treatments were 86, 56, 42 and 30% respectively. At both sites, wheat as previous crop resulted in higher (P=0.05) residue cover compared to the other systems tested. Lupin as previous crop resulted in the lowest residue cover, although not always significantly so. As no tillage treatments were done in the medic after wheat (McWMcW) systems, relatively high levels of crop residue cover were measured in these systems at both localities. Using the Ausplow (no-till planter) resulted in a reduction in mean residue cover of 23 and
Crop Residue
Conservation Agriculture
Crop Rotation
Mulch-till
Conventional tillage
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The adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) practices are essential for soil and water conservation. In CA, farmers must adopt no-tillage (NT) with crop rotation to maintain a permanent soil cover. In Brazil, mainly in the South region, for CA to be more efficient, practices such as contour farming and agricultural terraces should also be adopted. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the extent to which NT has been adopted with crop rotation and others soil and water conservation practices. Data from the Agricultural Census in Paraná State, southern Brazil, were used. For the data analysis, the relationship between the level of adoption of NT and the use of crop rotation, contour farming and agricultural terraces was analyzed. A factor and cluster analysis were performed to distinguish regions in terms of soil and water conservation practices. The results show good overall soil and water conservation practices, although heterogeneity has been observed in the adoption practices between regions. Adoption of NT is high in almost all the studied regions. The conservation practice most widely used with NT is contour farming, whereas the least used is agricultural terraces. Conservation practices for runoff control are being neglected by farmers.
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Crop Rotation
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In some rural properties of Brazil, soil and water conservation practices are partially or inappropriately implemented, intensifying soil erosion, even in no-tillage (NT) areas. This study aimed to check the farmer's understanding of conservation agriculture (CA) and assess whether they are using practices appropriate to soil conservation. A basin in the state of Paraná, in Southern Brazil, was selected. Surveys were conducted based on a structured questionnaire and in-person interviews of 234 farmers. Among these farmers, 67 % do [...]
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Soil Management
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