augustinmercado-icraf-conservationagriculturewithtreesintopical uplands
TRANSCRIPT
Agus%n R Mercado Jr1 , Rodel Lasco1 and Manuel Reyes2
1World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF-‐Philippines)
2North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Conserva%on Agriculture With Trees for Sustainable Crop Produc%on Intensifica%on in the Topical Uplands
Global Forum for Innova%ons in Agriculture 9-‐11 March 2015. Abu Dhabi
Challenges in the tropical uplands • Soils are inherently poor in nutrients
par%cularly P (acid soils) • Small farm size (2 has = 5 acres) • Inappropriate farming prac%ces • High rainfall (>2500 mm/yr) • Soil erosion is high • Declining farm produc%vity • Deforesta%on in upper watersheds • Poverty and malnutri%on • Lives and livelihoods of the people living
at the lowland communi%es are affected by the land degrada%on at the upper watersheds
5 Important principles of CAT on Sloping lands • Minimal soil disturbance • Con2nuous mulch or ground cover
• Diverse crop species/crop rota2ons
• Integra2on of trees • Integrated water, nutrient and pests management
Conserva%on agriculture
Trees
Trees
Banana, fo
dder grass
es
and legume
s
Conserva%on agriculture with trees (CAT) system as sloping lands management strategy
• Minimal soil disturbance • Con%nuous mulch or ground cover • Crop rota%ons/Diverse crop species
Resource flows of an integrated conserva2on agriculture with trees (CAT) system
Households and markets
Examples of conserva2on agriculture with trees (CAT)
Annual based systems Perennial based systems
Impact of extreme events on farming systems (During typhoon Bopha (Pablo) 275 kph -‐2012> P40 B damages)
Monoculture maize
Monoculture banana
Conserva%on Agriculture with Trees (CAT)
Quick recovery of CAT ( 5 months later
Resilience to extreme events!!!!
Conceptual Framework of Conserva2on Agriculture with Trees (CAT) Research (Philippines)
Inputs/component research
• Tree species • Crops and crop varie2es
• Cropping paVerns • Equipment/ planters • Soil management • Crop nutri2on • Pests management • Insects • Diseases • Weeds
Main Research
• Conserva2on Agriculture produc2on Systems with Trees (CAPST) : Type 1, 2, & 3 on-‐farm experimenta2on
Outputs/Impacts
• Soil Quality • Crop yield • Total biomass • Economics • Gender • Technology networks
• Biodiversity (earthworms)
Outcomes
• Capacity (Human capital)
• Incomes • Food security • Environmental services (agri-‐diversity, carbon sequestra2on, soil and water conserva2on )
To provide basket of op2ons for sloping acid upland environments
Scaling up
Component researches
Tree species • Rubber clonal Evalua2on
• Coffee • Cacao • Indigenous tree species
Crop varie%es • Adlai • Upland rice • Cassava • Forages • Herbaceous legumes • Maize • Sorghum • Cowpea • Pigeon pea • Vegetables
Soil Management and Crop Nutri2on • NPK Omission experiment
• NPK rates • Organic fer2lizer sources
• Organic fer2lizer op2mum rate
Long term CAPS trials: RM & FM Treatments T1 -‐ Maize + Arachis pintoi (AP) -‐ Maize + AP T2 -‐ Maize + Sytlosanthes guinanensis (SG)-‐ Fallow T3 -‐ Maize + Cowpea (CP)-‐ Upland rice + CP T4 -‐ Maize + Rice beans (RB) -‐ Maize + RB T5 -‐ Cassava + Stylo T6 . Farmer’s prac2ce
Maize + Arachis pintoi
Soil moisture reten2on (T1-‐ Maize + Arachis pintoi; T6-‐ monoculture maize)
0-‐15 cm depth 0-‐30 cm depth
Net benefit comparison
CAPS Treatments Net benefit (US$) (/ha/yr)
Maize + Arachis pintoi (AP) -‐ Maize + AP (2 crops/year) 1503
Maize – maize monoculture Farmer’s prac%ce (2 crops/year)
366
Arachis pintoi harves2ng in CAT system
• Can harvest 5,250 kg/ha of fresh herbage at 21-‐day pruning intervals
• Can support 4-‐6 cows
Arachis pintoi as feed for livestocks
Benefits of Arachis pintoi live mulch in CAT • No 2llage; No herbicide! • Controls erosion effec2vely • Improves crop yields • Herbage can be harvested
regularly for livestocks (chicken, pigs, caVle, goats, etc). Livestock is well integrated into CA!!
• No turn around period between crops!!
• No reestablishment cost
Maize + cowpea /Upland rice + cowpea
Net benefit comparison
CAPS Treatments Net benefit (US$) (/ha/yr)
Maize (mz)+ Cowpea (CP)-‐ Upland rice (Upl) + CP (2 mz/yr; 4 cp/yr; 1 upl)
2371
Maize – maize monoculture Farmer’s prac%ce (2 crops)
366
Temporal varia2on of soil organic maVer at upper soil layer (0-‐5 cm) under various CAPS treatments
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
0.001.002.003.004.005.006.007.008.00
Organic M
atter (%)
OM at 0-‐5 cm @ F1
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
Component researches
• Evalua2on of crop varie2es that are best for conserva2on agriculture produc2on systems that produce high biomass and economic yield which includes forage grasses, sorghum, cassava, upland rice, sweet potato, adlai, cowpea and open pollinated maize
• Key parameters
Biomass yield
Economic yield
Adlai (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) for Conservation Agriculture Production Systems
Perennial cereal crop!!!!
Aboveground total dry maVer yield of different Adlai varie2es
First crop Ratoon crop
CAT: Good innova%on
Natural vegeta%ve filter strips establishment • Establishment is simple and low cost • Controls soil erosion efficiently • Improves crop yields • Founda2on for agroforestry establishment
CAT: Good innova%on Rainwater harves%ng through animal built embankment (ABE) • Simple and cost effec2ve • Addresses rainfall uncertain2es during climate change • Reduces runoff during rainfall extreme events • Opportuni2es for related food, nutri2onal and income ac2vi2es by raising
fish , ducks, etc • Nutrients-‐loaded water improves crop yields
CAT: Good innova%on
Organic fer%lizer produc%on through compos%ng • Making fer2lizer more available and cheaper to cash poor farmers. • Improves soil carbon stocks • Mass par2cipa2on of smallholders to climate change mi2ga2on and
adapta2on.
CAT: Good innova%on Vegetable agroforestry • Improve vegetable yields up to 40% • Habitat for wildlife • Soil conserva2on • Addi2onal income from 2mber
Scaling up CAT innova2ons through Landcare approach planorm
Impact of Landcare Approach on Adop%on of Soil Conserva%on Prac%ce (NVS)
Summary
• Evidences of CAT innova2ons are increasing crop yields, soil organic maVer and income and resilience to environmental stresses (drought, intense rainfall, typhoons), while reducing labor and capital costs.
• Adop2on is now taking place
Summary • Government, non-‐government organiza2ons and private companies should address the barriers to CAT research and development by providing funds and subsidies, inves2ng on CA machineries and equipment, strengthen linkages between research and development ac2vi2es
• Experiences provided the founda2on that CAT innova2ons are ready for scaling up in Southeast Asia and other places in the humid tropics with similar bio-‐physical and socio-‐economic environments
For informa%on contact:
Agus2n R. Mercado, Jr.. PhD World Agroforestry Centre -‐ Philippines
agus%[email protected]
Thank you very much!