An integrated approach to monitoring ecosystem services and agriculture: implications for sustainable agricultural intensification in Rwanda

Abstract

Maintaining the long-term sustainability of human and natural systems across agricultural landscapes requires an integrated, systematic monitoring system that can track crop productivity and the impacts of agricultural intensification on natural resources. This study presents the design and practical implementation of a monitoring framework that combines satellite observations with ground-based biophysical measurements and household surveys to provide metrics on ecosystem services and agricultural production at multiple spatial scales, reaching from individual households and plots owned by smallholder farmers to 100-km landscapes. We developed a set of protocols for monitoring and analyzing ecological and agricultural household parameters within two 10 × 10-km landscapes in Rwanda, including soil fertility, crop yield, water availability, and fuelwood sustainability. Initial results suggest providing households that rely on rainfall for crop irrigation with timely climate information and improved technical inputs pre-harvest could help increase crop productivity in the short term. The value of the monitoring system is discussed as an effective tool for establishing a baseline of ecosystem services and agriculture before further change in land use and climate, identifying limitations in crop production and soil fertility, and evaluating food security, economic development, and environmental sustainability goals set forth by the Rwandan government.

Prospects for Agricultural Sustainable Intensification: A Review of Research

“…Therefore, ecological intensification has gradually evolved from plot scale at which focuses on crop yields and agronomic methods to a multidisciplinary approach to the concept of integrated ecosystem service or biodiversity [10]. Although ecological intensification tends to be more diversified in the course of development, the importance of integrating socio-economic improvement with environmental sustainability is highlighted under the framework of agricultural sustainable intensification, which includes the goal of ecological intensification [34,35].…”

“…Land 2019, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 22 of 28 development, the importance of integrating socio-economic improvement with environmental sustainability is highlighted under the framework of agricultural sustainable intensification, which includes the goal of ecological intensification [34,35].…”

“…Therefore, the way to achieve sustainable intensification needs to take the flexibility in practice into consideration, such as the diversity of agricultural ecological conditions, farmers' endowment, farming system and social and economic conditions [93]. However, in the process of agricultural landscape monitoring, too much attention is paid to food supply and demand and crop productivity, while the analysis of ecosystem services and social ecological effects is ignored [35,60]. Therefore, in face of climate change, Uganda coffee growers explored ecologically adaptive paths as effective strategies to achieve sustainable intensification and adapt to climate change [88].…”

“…Optimizing external inputs of agricultural systems is critical to sustainable intensification. Increasing productivity requires access to agriculture, credit, market, agricultural knowledge and information, agricultural extension services and improved infrastructure [29,35]. Therefore, a large number of studies have focused on reducing agricultural cost or environmental pressure by effectively utilizing natural, chemical and human resources.…”

“…Research on sustainable intensification practices is mainly concentrated in the African region, with farmers as the research object and their behavior choices in the practice of sustainable intensification [26][27][28]. At present, research on sustainable intensification covers farmers [28][29][30][31], farms [32], agricultural landscapes [33], integrated crop-livestock systems [34], ecosystem services [35,36]. However, systematic review and summary concerning agricultural sustainable intensification still remains blank in the current domestic and international research.…”