Conservation agriculture- a new pathway for agricultural development Jens B. Aune Agro-ecologist, Noragric, UMB

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Conservation agriculture- a new pathway for
agricultural development Jens B.
AuneAgro-ecologist, Noragric, UMB
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Disadvantage of the system

• Low yields because sowing is delayed
• Low soil organic matter content
• High soil erosion
• Inputs are not efficiently utilized
• Most of the fodder resources are used by oxen
• Female households are in particular vulnerable
  situation because the man who ploughs takes up to
  50 of the harvest

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Principles of conservation agriculture

• Direct sowing
• Soil cover (mulch)
• Crop rotations
• Improved soil fertility management is often a
  requirement

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• Advantages of cons. agr.
• Resembles a natural eco-system- soil is
  continuously covered
• Build soil organic carbon
• Less soil erosion
• No turning of the soil- less use of energy (30-40
  less use of energy)
• Yields comparable to conventional agriculture
• Less need to keep oxen

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Forms of conservation agriculture
Planting basins
Ripping
Photo Progress Nyanga
PhotoCFU Zambia
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Tractor ripping dry season ripping
PhotoCFU Zambia
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Millet biomass yield (kg ha-1)
Fertiliser and mulching (millet straw)
No input
Lessons from the Sahel drought in the 1980s.
Millet production in Niger (Bationo and Buerkert
2001)
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Conservation agriculture in the Horn of Africai

• Conservation agriculture should be more actively
  promoted in the Horn of Africa
• Agriculture becomes more resistant to climate
  change
• Improvements in livestock production
• Positive environmental effects

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Conservation agriculture in a global context

• The only agricultural system that can feed 9
  billion people in a sustainable way.
• Should also be more promoted under temperate
  agricultural conditions like in Norway
• International and Norwegian research (Apelsvoll)
  tell that conservation agriculture has less GHG
  and nitrogen emission per kg produced food than
  organic and conventional agriculture.

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There is a need for a stronger policy push of
conservation agriculture internationally as well
as domestically.