best practices in land and water management
DESCRIPTION
Government organizations need to serve farmer clients in more interdisciplinary and participatory ways Re-orient agriculture and rural development programmes to promote and nurture active participation of farmers and their organizations Target the production chain: GAP-LWM productivity + food quality markets health and nutrition Participatory research and support services to facilitate transition from conventional agriculture to GAP-LWM Restructure inappropriate macro-economic and agricultural policies Adopt policies that promote and enforce sustainable and productive land and water use through GAP protocols Protect the integrity of agricultural families – land tenure, build on indigenous knowledge, promote youth in agriculture, reduce labour/drudgery Adjust legislation to facilitate initiatives of local groups adopting GAP (help meet their needs)TRANSCRIPT
Best Practices in Land and Water Management
by José R. Benites, FAO Land and Water Development
Division (AGL) for FAO Workshop on GAPs, October
2004
2
Common practices Removal or burning of
pasture/crop residues Continuous ploughing
and harrowing Misuse /waste of water Overgrazing Deforestation Mono-cropping Excessive use of
fertilisers Misuse of pesticides
Consequences Poor soil cover, high runoff Erosion and sedimentation Increase risk of drought and flood Loss of soil fertility/productivity Salinity Falling water table/ drying streams Food and health insecurity Water contamination: ground & surface Greenhouse gas release Increased pest and disease incidence Loss of biodiversity and ecological functions
Why Best Land Management?
3
Integrated systems approaches
Soil biological management
Soil moisture management - WHC
Soil physical + chemical management
Farmer benefits of Farmer benefits of Integrated land Integrated land managementmanagement
Human management of the landscape
and ecosystem
Tied ridges, mulch, cover
crops, etc
Soil life and OM (crop species;
roots, rotations)
Soil tillage, fertilizers,
manure, lime Reliable yield & quality
4
Programmes / Activities:What? / Where?
Land management and conservation approaches and technologies - WOCAT
Soil fertility / productivity improvement Visual soil assessment LADA – global land degradation
assessment of drylands GIAHS – globally important agricultural
heritage systems Watershed and river basin management
(Okavango, Kagera and Nile basins) Farmer empowerment and
experimentation (LWM-FFS approaches) Land use planning by local institutions
(Marmelade, Haiti; Tunisia; Croatia)
BEFORE
AFTER
bare hills, erosion, loss of water
good land cover and yields
5
Objective: Sustainable and Productive Land Use and Management Practices
to work with farmers and decision makers
Improving land quality, farming capacity and productivity & food and livelihood security
to use multiple stakeholders approaches: linking farmer groups, extension, research, urban land owners/ herders, consumers, government, NGO, private sector
6
Suggested Norms for GAP Protocols in relation to land management
COMPULSORY: 100 % OF NORMS SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED
REQUIRED (MAJORS): 85% OF NORMS SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED
SUGGESTED (MINORS): MUST BE ENCOURAGED AND SUPPORTED
ALTHOUGH THEIR UPTAKE IS NOT COMPULSORY
7
Lessons for GAP work (1): Minimize burning of pastures and crop residues
Farmers burn for pasture germination or insect and disease control or to facilitate tillage BUT... Burning reduces return of organic matter to the soil and soil surface protection against raindrop impact and wind. Burning releases greenhouse gases, and may cause air pollution and health problems.
Straw burning prohibition
Help farmers to direct seed into cover crops and residues (as a substitute for burning)
Regulate timing and frequency of pasture burning
Increase livestock feed and straw marketing
8
Lessons for GAP work (2): Reduce repetitive tillage - cause of land degradation, soil erosion and water loss
Frequent tillage results in compaction, high runoff rates and waterlogging, massive erosion, severe losses of soil nutrients and organic matter, and as a result rapidly declining yields.
Conventional tillage releases 20 - 30% of native soil C to the atmosphere in the first 20 years in temperate regions, and 50 - 75% in the tropics.
Support Conservation Agriculture tools/adapted techniques to:• stop repetitive ploughing (inversion) and reduce tillage (chisels, rippers, discs, harrows, etc.)• minimize removal or incorporation of crop residues;• replace crop monoculture by rotations (break crops) and associations (mixed systems)• control traffic to minimize compaction (by feet, draught animals, tractors, harvesters, etc.)
Regulations to minimize soil disturbance: direct seeding, reduced traffic, integrated weed control techniques
Encourage permanent soil cover, minimum soil tillage, enhanced biomassMonitor earthworms, soil structure, soil moisture and erosion.
9
Lessons for GAP work (3): Improve soil cover and crop rotations
A bare, unprotected soil surface: Accelerates runoff, erosion, surface crusting, compaction
and declining soil fertility. Requires a lot of labour and energy (often strenuous) and
external inputs for soil restoration; Creates calendar constraints (...too dry or wet)
Regulate crop residue burning and crop rotationsDiscourage residue incorporation and bare soils
Encourage no-or minimum tillage, ridge till and seasonal residue management.
Combine rotations of grain crops with cover crops and associations (varied
products - food, fodder, biomass) Adapt practices for local soil, climate
and socioeconomic conditions
10
Lessons for GAP work (4): Living soil, soil organic matter and Carbon
sequestration Incorporation of crop residues by ploughing
increases leaching and mineralization of nutrients and release of carbon as CO2.
Loss of soil organic matter harms soil structure and life: rainwater does not infiltrate, soil moisture is not retained (surface crusting; reduced pore spaces; runoff causes erosion)
Build up residues and crops on the groundAvoid ploughing in fresh organic materials
Encourage build up of soil organic matter: high biomass rotations, cover crops, reduced or no tillage
and rotational grazing.
Build capacity in conservation agriculture: direct seeding (no-till), cover crops and strip-cropping
11
Lessons for GAP work (5): Soil Fertility / Productivity Improvement
Nutrients are lost from the soil through erosion, leaching, crop removal or via gas release
Nutrient mining through intensive monocultures causes an exhaustion of the major nutrients N and P on soils with only small total contents of mineral and organic reserves.
Regulate and fine farmers for nutrient losses in water supplies – through monocropping,
intensive tillage, erosion.
Adapt and train farmers in integrated plant nutrient management practices
Promote practices that enhance soil fertility: • use of animal manures, cover crops, compost; • good residue management; • selective rotations; • zero or reduced tillage; • minimize soil compaction and break hardpans;• soil and water conservation
12
Lessons for GAP work (6): Drought-resistant soils and landscapes
Runoff control measures offer barriers/ diversions across the land (lateral flow), once water has begun to run down-slope.
They have no effect to reduce prior impact of erosive raindrops or capture - infiltration into the soil (vertical flow).
Ban severe mechanical disturbanceReplace expensive physical barriers by
practices to improve soil health and productivity (soil OM, life, moisture)
Provide no/minimum till equipment, tools, pasture, fodder and cover crop seed
Promote practices to enhance soil life and biological activity: organic matter and soil moisture management;
reduce soil damage; use short rotations
How to slow lateral flow?
How to protect the soil?
13
Lessons for GAP work (7): Community land use planning
Promote use of PRA and survey techniques for diagnosis, mapping, discussion, landscape planning and farm/farmer characterisation (gender and socio-economic analysis)
Promote participatory land use planning and mapping to meet community needs (woodlots, trees on farm, water access, secure tenure/ leasehold, rural roads and local markets, etc...)
Promote continuous application and updating of community plans through district budgets and support mechanisms
Monitor extent to which community needs are being met
14
Lessons for GAP work (8): Monitor using Visual Soil Assessment
1 3
20yrs MaizeWilliams – E2722760 N6095000 15 August 2001Kairanga silty clay loam
0.5 1.51 2
1.5 30 01 21 12 4
16.5
VSA score <10 (Poor condition): Pasture & crop performance is poor and production costs high. 20–45% decline in crop yield
VSA score = 15 (Moderate condition): 10–15% decline in crop yields
VSA score >20 (Good condition): Pasture + crop performance excellent, production costs low (provided climatic conditions, soil moisture, soil
fertility, pest and plant diseases, etc. are non-limiting.
soil structure and texture
15
Lessons for GAP work (9): Land degradation Assessment - LADA
2. Establishment of a LADA Task Force
1. Identification of Land Degradation Problems and Users Needs Assessment
3. Stocktaking & Preliminary Analysis
5. Field Surveys &Participatory Assessment
7. Monitoring Strategies & Tools
6. Information Integration
4. Stratification & Sampling Strategy
LADA Steps
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BEST LAND MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL: Example from Spain
Straw burning prohibition and contour tillage (COMPULSORY)
To keep crop residues over the soil during a minimum period (9 €/ ha)
Minimum tillage( 54€/ ha)
No-till-direct seeding (103 €/ha)
17
Conclusions: How to promote adoption of GAP in land management
Government organizations need to serve farmer clients in more interdisciplinary and participatory ways • Re-orient agriculture and rural development programmes to promote and nurture active
participation of farmers and their organizations
• Target the production chain: GAP-LWM productivity + food quality markets health and nutrition
• Participatory research and support services to facilitate transition from conventional agriculture to GAP-LWM
Restructure inappropriate macro-economic and agricultural policies • Adopt policies that promote and enforce sustainable and productive land and water use
through GAP protocols
• Protect the integrity of agricultural families – land tenure, build on indigenous knowledge, promote youth in agriculture, reduce labour/drudgery
• Adjust legislation to facilitate initiatives of local groups adopting GAP (help meet their needs)