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TRANSCRIPT
Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture
Dr Zareen Pervez Bharucha University of Essex / Essex Sustainability Institute [email protected] @b_zareen
20th March 2015, London
Why ‘sustainable’intensif ication?
What is it?
Does it w ork?
Key lessons?
Globally, agriculture is doing well
Relative chan ges i n net agr icultural pro duction (tonnes of foo d produc ed, 1961–2012) [FAOSTAT]
Per capita yields are growing
…exce pt in sub-Sah aran Afr ica
Relative chan ges i n per capita agr ic ultural pro duction (tonnes of foo d produ ced, 1961–2012) [FAOSTAT]
Prevalence of un dernour ishment (%) - 3 years average [FA OSTAT]
We arecombatting hunger
But lots to be done
Under-nourishment: 870 million (1 in 8)
Micronutrient malnutrition: 2 billion
Over-nutrition: 1 billion
Loss of diversity
60% of the world’s protein & calories from rice, maize, wheat 12 plant species contribute to 80% of dietary intake 75% of plant genetic diversity lost in
Breached planetar y boundaries
Agricultural GHG emissions: ≈1/3rd of global GHG emissions from agricultural sector
Nutrient cycling: Phosphorus: 20 Mt mined / yr, 8-95 Mt released into oceans [8x over natural rate]
Biodiversity loss: Agriculture drives 80%of all forest loss &
Growing demands
[Source]
12% of China’s l an d is arabl e20-30% arable l and polluted 0.08 ha / person [0.37 in Brazil] Insecure l and-tenure
A huge resource footprint
Not just ‘more calories’
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in African males aged 15+ [WHO 2012]
“Undernutr ition… is the biggest cause of lat ent TB infection progressing to active tuberculosis i n India, adding over a milli on cases of the 2 .3 million new cases each year…”
≈ 500 million small farms (< 2 ha) 2 billion people ½ global burden of undernourishment M ost of t he global burden of povert y [Hazell 2011. Five Big Questions about Five Hundred Million Small Farms.]
Small farmers at the frontline
“My vi sion of a po vert y-free Ind ia will be an India where a vast majorit y, somethin g like 85 perc ent, will e ventual ly li ve in cit ies.”- P. Chidambaram, 2008
Agriculture matters for human development
10% yield increase: 5-7% reduction in poverty (Asia, Africa)
No equivalent effect from manufacturing & services
[World Bank, 2008; Wiggins and Slater, 2010]
Dichotomies: Small v industrial agriculture
"We need their acres… ”- G. Page, 2012
“[Small food producers and consumers] are the primary global investors in agriculture, as well as the primary providers of jobs and livelihoods in the world”- Declaration of the
Dichotomies: Land-sparing v land-sharing
Sustainable Intensification
What is ‘sustainabl e’ i ntensificati on?
“…producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts and at the same time increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental services.”Pretty et al. 2011
Rationale: Do we need more?
Vision: Productivist? Oxymoron? Trojan horse?
Definitions and measurements: What counts, how do we count it?
Emerging criticisms
Evidence in smallholder systems
Resource-conservi ng agricul tur e increases yi elds
286 ‘best practice’ projects 7 types of intervention: Aquaculture, IPM, INM,agroforestry, conservation tillage, livestock integration, w ater harvesting
57 developing countries, 37 M ha and 12.6 million farms
Average yield increase: 79% (but w ide spread)
Water productivity increases: >100% in rain-fed systems
Total C-sequestration 0.35 t C
40 SI cases in s ub- Sahar an Afr ic a
Intervention
Area improved (ha)
Mean yield increase (ratio)Varietal
improvements
391,060 2.18Agroforestry and soil conservation
3,385,000 1.96Conservation agriculture
26,057 2.20Integrated pest management
3,327,000 2.24Horticulture & small-scale agriculture
510 -Livestock and fodder crop innovations
303,025 -Partnerships & policies
5,319,840 2.05Aquaculture
523 NdTotal 12,753,000 2.13 [Pretty et al. 2011
IJAS]
Varietal improvement
Yield increases 1960 – 2000 Wheat: 208% Paddy rice: 109% Maize 157% Potatoes 78% Cassava 36%
New priorit ies:
‘Orphan’ cro ps
Particip atory br eedin g
New tra its, incl nutrit ion content
Perennials
Participatory breeding & extension
Quncho tefStaple for 50 mill ion Ethio pian s Nutrit ious, resili ent
“… disseminatio n is i n a state of self-dr ive…”[Ass fa et al. 2011. IJAS 9(1): 25-3 4]
package of techn olo gies participatory dissemin ation multiple stakehol ders informal see d system
Africa Pl ant Breed ing Ac ademy, Na irobi , 2013
Sequ encin g 100 Afr ican plants important for l ocal foo d se cur ity
International cons ortium of pr ivate an d public sect or partners
NEPAD Mars; World
Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF);
BGI; Life Te chnol ogies ; World Wildlife
Fund; UC Davis; iPlant
Collaborative Bioscienc es
eastern an d central Afr ica -International Livestock Research Institute (BecA - ILR I)
Integrated Pest Managemen t
Pretty J. and Bharucha Z. 2015. In tegrated Pest Management for Sustainable Intens ification of Agriculture in As ia and Africa. Insects 2015, 6, 152-182; doi:10.3390/insects6010152
85 projects
24 countr ies
Yields: +40.9%
Pesticides : -30.7%
Crop loss es to pests = foo d for 1 billion . 600 known cas es of insectici de resistance sinc e the 1950s
Push-Pull in SSA
Source • Stem borers & Str iga = $7 billio n annual losses • Controlled by Desmo dium ( push) and Napi er grass (pull)• International Centre of Insect Physiolo gy an d Ec olo gy (Kenya) &
Rothamsted Rese arch (UK)• 96,000+ smallholder farmers across E ast Afr ica
Yields up…
Yield di fferences in push–pull and control plots in 14 districts in Kenya during the 2005 long rains. [Hassanali A. et al. 2008. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2008;363:611-621]
Average: 1t/ha 3.5 t/ha
… with positive externalities
soil coverN-fixing soil moisture organic matter soil biodiversitysmallholder dairying & poultry
[better diets, more manure]
Sy stem of Rice Intensif ication• Lo w de nsity pl antin g
• Less w ater • Ear ly trans pl ant atio n
• Organi c m atter
- 20-100% yiel d in creas e - 90% re du ction in s ee d
- 50% wat er s avin gs - 10 milli on farmers in 54 cou ntr ies
[http://s ri.cals .cornell.edu]
Conservation agriculture• Minimize s oil distur banc e • Maint ain c over • Rotat e cro ps
20-120% yiel d i ncre as es over c onve ntio nal till age 8% of ar abl e cro pl an d glo bally
On measuring change…
Context-specificity v generalization
Evaluating packages is complicatedMeasure individual components? Variable adoption[Ethiopia: 100,000 ‘SRI
tef farmers use only spacing. Pittelkow et al. [2014, Nature] 5,463
paired yield observations, 610 studies, no-till v conventional, 48 crops, 63 countries:
“our results show that no-till reduces yields, yet this response is variable and under certain conditions no-till can produce
Adding trees
No necessary trade-off between cultivation and tree-cover
Half of all agricultural land has +10% tree cover
≈100 different systems
$1.40 additional value per tree (fertili ty + fruit, fodder, medicine, fuel)
C-sequestration, biodiversity
3 t/ha c ereal yiel ds w ithout addit ion al fert ilizer from Fai dherbi a intercropping+C-sequestration Weed s uppression Increase d w ater f iltration Drought resilienc e
Diversif ication: bee-keeping, forage and fodder produ ction, fruit and medic inal plants
Value-addition, micro-credit
•Millions of Sah elian farmers •Maize, s orghum & millets •Doubling – tr ipling of yiel ds •Adherence high for poor farmers
Burkina Faso & Niger 3-5 Mha ofagroforestryparkland +100 million trees 300,000 ha. rehabilitated Water table up by 5 mAdditional 500,00 -
Tahou , Niger, 1970s & 2000s
Filling in gaps and patches
Tropical agroforestrygardens: >300 plant species
Chagga gardens (Tanzania): 125kg beans, 275 bunches of banana, 280kg of parchment coffee on ½ ha
800 million practicesmallscale urban agriculture
“women farmers used proceeds from their vegetables at will without
interference from their husbands or other family members. This led to a change in
farmers’ perceptions towards farming as a business, and many started viewing
indigenous vegetables as a c ommercial crop”
Muhanji et al. 2011
Lessons
New social infrastructuresBuilding know ledge and trust
Farmer participation matters
New partnershipsPeer-peer learning- video, radio, TV, mobiles- farmer f ield schools
Entrepreneur ial smallholders: value addition, input
“… the good performance of Quncho has brought together coordinated efforts amongst researchers, extension personnel, district administrators and other public stakeholders… private farms… and seed growers... And NGOs…. This was unheard of before the advent of Quncho.”
[Assefaet al. 2011, IJAS 9(1): 25-34]
Strong public sector mandate
Public sector research more important than ever - 10 multinationals : U S $3 billion /yr on R&D - CGIAR: U S $300 million/yr
[Pi ngali a nd Rane y 2 00 5] Participatory planning
Investment in extension and infrastructure
Positive engagement with private sector
Land reform
Regulating land-use change & markets
International cooperation
Taking long journeys together
Developm ent of Fodd er shrubs: 1980s t o the present [Wambugu et al. 2011. IJAS 9(1): 25- 34]
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