A new case study and video clip on EverGreen Agriculture has been produced by WRENmedia with support from EIARD. These new products describe EverGreen Agriculture and its role in restoring exhausted soils with richer sources of organic nutrients, helping smallholders increase crop yields and incomes, and adapt to climate change.
You can watch the video here on our website and read the case study attached below.
Boab tree and crops in Burkina Faso
By
Treeless fields of wheat haven’t always been the common image of agriculture. For most of human history, agriculture took place amidst trees. It’s time to put the trees back, say Meine van Noordwijk, Dennis Garrity and Delia Catacutan
The trouble started when a tree-less, tillage-addicted form of agriculture became the norm and the image worldwide as what agriculture is, and should be, and was extended to parts of the world with less benign climates than where it originated.
Long before this concept took hold, agricultural practices in many parts of the world included the retention of valuable trees in cropped fields. This kind of agriculture employed only superficial soil tillage, usually in combination with a controlled fire that cleared the land but did not kill the larger trees.
In temperate zones with relatively mild climates, however, a different approach to growing crops emerged—‘non-conservation agriculture without trees’—which was successful because it was readily expanded: horse-drawn ploughs replaced human tillage then tractors replaced horses, drawing on much more horsepower to drag ever-deeper ploughs through soils that responded by mineralizing a substantial part of their organic matter, thereby providing nutrients for the crops.
This yield benefit, however, was not sustainable because it depleted the resource base: chemical fertilizer had to become the basis of plant nutrition. Because excessive tillage had killed many of the worms and other minute soil engineers, it became ‘necessary’ to create a structure compatible with crop roots.
By the mid-1970s, it had become clear that the ‘green revolution’ approach of intensifying crop production in the manner described above had worked well in some (particularly irrigated) environments, but not elsewhere.
A parallel approach to large-scale forestry had success in some limited areas but it ran into major social conflicts and issues over land rights elsewhere.
Out of this polarisation, a new—but also very old—concept emerged: ‘agroforestry’, which was most simply described as ‘agriculture with trees’.
However, the idea that crops and trees were compatible was dangerously revolutionary for academically trained agronomists and at the same time their colleagues, the trained foresters, had a hard time in seeing local people as partners, not as their major problem.
Yet in many parts of the tropics, the compatibility of crops and trees and people and forests appeared to be self-evident, if only one opened one’s eyes. Trees and crops, farmers and forests could work together.
And so the advances of agroforestry in understanding the biophysical, ecological, social and economic aspects of tree–soil–crop interactions were slow to be accepted in the world of ‘development’ and ‘modernization’.
But after some time and much work, new forms of agroforestry, compatible with mechanization and focussed on trees of high value, finally emerged in Europe, North America and Australia, which challenged the rules and regulations that had been formed around the concept of segregating trees and crops.
Agroforestry and its close relative, ‘conservation agriculture with trees’, has demonstrated the ability to adapt crop productivity to climate variability and change, and provide greater yield buffering under increasing temperatures and more frequent and severe droughts.
Depending upon which woody species are used, and how they are managed, their incorporation into crop fields and agricultural landscapes can contribute to maintaining vegetative soil cover year-round; bolstering nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling; enhancing suppression of insect pests and weeds; improving soil structure and water infiltration; increasing direct production of food, fuel, fibre and income from products from the intercropped trees; enhancing carbon storage, both above- and belowground; increasing quantities of organic matter in soil surface residues; and more effectively conserving above- and belowground biodiversity.
There are still many critical research issues to be explored. These include the choice of appropriate tree species for varied agroecologies, higher quality tree germplasm, better tree seed dissemination systems, and further improvements in tree propagation and establishment methods. The optimum tree densities for different systems have yet to be fully understood, and the best practices in exploiting the soil fertility synergies between organic and inorganic nutrient sources need to be elucidated.
Integrated systems pose a pioneering research agenda with enormous implications for so-called ‘climate smart’ agriculture.
The World Agroforestry Centre is working on this ecologically sustainable agriculture with a number of key partners from national research institutes, universities and NGOs in projects across the developing world so that we can all enjoy the fruits of trees in agricultural landscapes for a long time to come.
Edited by Robert Finlayson
Read the chapter
Written by Daisy Ouya on October 3, 2012
The argument was made in a new book, Vegetable agroforestry systems in Indonesia, which details action research with farmers to develop sustainable tree and vegetable systems for steeply sloping hillsides.
According to James M. Roshetko, co-author of the book and a senior scientist with Winrock International and the World Agroforestry Centre, farmers in Nanggung, West Java, who traditionally grew vegetables in full sunlight, were delighted to find that they could successfully cultivate vegetables under a canopy of trees.
The seven vegetables he and his team tested did as well or better in medium shade than under full sunlight.
‘In the understory of mixed trees with medium-light levels, the production per plant of amaranth, ‘kangkung’, eggplant, chili, tomato and “katuk” was around 100 to 300% superior to production under full sunlight. Even in understory with heavy shade, those seven vegetables produced up to 139% more than those in full sunlight”, he said
An array of vegetables was tested, including common ones like eggplant, chili, tomato, green bean and long bean, as well as indigenous Indonesian vegetables like amaranth (Amaranthus), ‘katuk’ (Sauropus androgynous), ‘kangkung’ (Ipomoea aquatica), ‘kemangi’ (Ocimum americanum), ‘honje’ (Etlingera giseke), ‘kucai’ (Allium tuberosum), ‘legetan’ (Spilanthes iabadicensis), ‘pegagan’ (Centella asiatica), ‘beluntas’ (Pluchea indica), ‘kenikir’ (Cosmos caudatus), ‘sambung nyawa’ (Gynura procumbens), and ‘terubuk’ (Saccharum edule).
The indigenous vegetables fetched higher prices in the market than the others. They were highly nutritious and many had medicinal or other valuable properties. For instance, katuk is used to improve the flow of milk in breastfeeding mothers, kenikir has beautiful flowers used for decoration, while the flowers of honje are edible.
However, the transformation of traditional, subsistence agriculture into market-oriented production is a formidable task, particularly if the benefits and risks are unclear.
In particular, the researchers found that farmers’ weak links with traders and their post-harvest handling and processing were potential bottlenecks to increasing vegetable production.
For instance, a large and ready market for fresh katuk leaves existed in the cities of Jakarta and Tangerang, with daily demand from farmers in nearby Ciampea alone exceeding 15 tonne, worth US$2935 per day at a farmgate price of US$0.20 per kilogram.
Pharmaceutical companies were able to buy 5 tonnnes of dried katuk leaves from the farmers every day, at US$1.20 to 1.80 per kilogram. It took about 4 kilogram of fresh leaves to make 1 kilogram of dried.
So, economically, drying the leaves should have been attractive, increasing price margins several-fold. However, the researchers found that farmers often sold the leaves fresh because they lacked the experience, capital, technology and confidence to efficiently dry them.
‘To capitalize on lucrative markets, farmers as well as traders needed to improve post-harvest handling and storage. Farmers, in particular, had to combine improved production and processing to increase the quantity and quality of yields. Once they achieved the standards needed for commercial orders, they could command premium prices in lucrative markets. Understory vegetable farming allowed them to intensify their farming by adding another, valuable “story” to their farms, without needing to expand their land area’, said Roshetko.
Ujjwal Pradhan, the regional coordinator of the World Agroforestry Centre’s Southeast Asia Program, said the research had helped improve farmers’ incomes and also protect the environment.
‘Because their land was under-productive, many local communities were forced to utilise the neighbouring Gunung Halimun National Park, a major watershed for Jakarta, leading to environmental degradation.
‘Through intensifying vegetable production on the farmers’ own plots, without clearing any new land, benefits flowed not only to the farmers of Nanggung but downstream as well, in the form of improved water quality’, Pradhan said.
Bit by bit, East African smallholder farmers adapting to climate change
Submitted by Vanessa on 7th September 2012
Farmers worldwide have always faced challenges related to weather variability, and have necessarily adapted their farming practises in order to survive. But as variability increases to to climate change, and rainfall patterns and average temperatures shift dramatically, farmers may need to change more rapidly and in unexpected ways.
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) led an extensive survey of farmers at sites across East Africa, to discover what kind of changes farmers have already made to deal with variability. The goal was to understand what kind of changes are possible in the future, and what compels farmers to make these changes, in order to deal with climate change.
The results of the survey, which were published in the journal Food Security, found that many smallholders have started to embrace climate-resilient farming approaches and technologies. These include strategies that improve crop production such as using improved seed varieties, agroforestry and intercropping, and better livestock management. But many farming approaches, the kind that would actually transform the way smallholders farm, have yet to be adopted. The infographic here illustrates what has, and has not, been commonly adopted.
The researchers also found a link between farmers’ food insecurity and adoption of climate-adapted approaches. The least food-secure households are also those the least likely to innovate. But it’s unclear whether one causes the other or whether they are mutually-reinforcing.
“It stands to reason that households struggling to feed their families throughout the year are not in a good position to invest in new practices that include higher costs and risks,” said Patti Kristjanson, a researcher “Yet not adapting is certainly contributing to food insecurity. Food insecurity means lower adaptive capacity to deal with all kinds of change.”
“So it is critical that we learn more about both the factors that enable and facilitate innovation, and how to lower the often hidden costs and barriers associated with changing agricultural practices,” she added.
The challenge facing current regreening initiatives is how to find effective methods for upscaling test site successes. On the Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) blog, Torben Timmermann writes about one of the first side events taking place at RIO+20. Participants were invited to the Re-greening for Resilient Landscapes side event to see concrete examples of re-greening initiatives for large landscapes.
According to Timmermann, targeting drylands for regreening is important due to the strong connection between land degradation, desertification and other global issues such as climate change, droughts and floods, famine and poverty.
There are many innovations that can raise productivity in the soils, such as tree plantations, agroforestry and soil management; the question is how these can be scaled up to benefit more smallholder farmers and pastoralists.
“Ensuring the right collaboration among key stakeholders is crucial,” said Carlos Seré, Director for Strategic Planning at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
In Timmermann’s opinion, real success in the high risk areas such as the Sahel was as a result of reforestation from Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) practices.
Participants heard how FMNR practices have resulted in the reforested of five million hectares of land while protecting livelihood options for farmers. Its farmer-led approach is said to have helped increase household incomes that are encouraging farmers to adopt new practices.
Dr Dennis Garrity, UN Drylands Ambassador and Senior Research Fellow at World Agroforestry Centre, pointed out that dryland areas are moving towards a whole new future where crops are grown in association with trees and natural regeneration of the trees that increase productivity. He leads a major Evergreen Agriculture initiative which includes a number of African organizations working to scale up sustainable agricultural practices.
With the right upscaling, Garrity was optimistic that Evergreen Agriculture could benefit tens of millions of smallholder farmers over the next few years.
The Times of India reports that eminent agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan advises that three key factors are needed in order to ensure food security.
Firstly that the right agricultural technologies must support traditional wisdom in management of the ecosystem while producing cash crops. It is no longer effective to simply emphasise the green economy. He suggested that the health of the ecosystem must be taken into account when considering food security so that those who are less fortunate can be protected against the impacts of climate change. The report seems to say this is why Dr Swaminathan is also encouraging meaningful investments into agroecological practices as a vital component of food security.
Swaminathan said modern practices like precision farming and climate-resilient farming or ‘smart farming’, would help convert the concept of ‘evergreen agriculture revolution’ into a reality.
Although India is able to produce enough food to feed it population, Dr Swaminathan lamented that malnutrition is still a major issue.
To change this malnutrition dip, Dr swamithan advised that, “It is important to restore confidence in the international trading system through policy options like putting in place the right import and export policies, as well as timely dissemination of information on market fundamentals.”
“We have to think in terms of a targeted PDS (public distribution system) versus a universal PDS. An important issue for the Food Security Act to tackle is whether PDS can be made universal in the 200 high-burden districts identified by the Prime Minister’s Nutrition Advisory Council,” he concluded.
