Impact of conservation agriculture on the agronomic and environmental performances of maize cropping under contrasting climatic conditions of the Brazilian Cerrado

Silva, F.A.M.; Naudin, Krishna; Corbeels, Marc; Scopel, Éric; Affholder, François

doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2018.10.009

Cited by 12 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…A permanent plant cover limits erosion and soil compaction, promotes rainwater infiltration and groundwater recharge, and reduces nutrient losses from runoff in agroecosystems in Central America (Benegas et al 2014;Meylan et al 2017). This practice may contribute to the preservation of water and nutrient resources, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in smallscale farming systems in the dry zones of Mexico (Scopel et al 2005) and in the more humid Brazilian Cerrados (Silva et al 2019). The protection of the soil surface by a permanent cover also reduces the variation in soil temperature and humidity and thereby promotes biological soil functions.…”

Section: Levers For Contributing To the Efficiency Of Biogeochemical ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Levers for the agroecological transition of tropical agriculture

Côté

Rapidel

Sourisseau

et al. 2022

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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To promote greater sustainability in agriculture, development of agroecology is increasingly being invoked. What are the conditions for establishing agroecological production in tropical regions? Based upon case studies in several tropical areas, we provide here some answers to this question. We review the “pillars” (i.e. principles) and the “implementation levers” (i.e., tools) for the development of agroecology. We identify three main pillars: (1) the mobilization and management of ecological processes for the sustainable production and the resilience of agroecosystems; (2) the development of interactions between technical, social, environmental, and institutional components of agroecosystems for a holistic approach to agroecology; and (3) the scaling up of agroecology that takes place with a plurality of actions and pathways at different organization levels rather than an increase in resources and a replication of standardized technical processes. To implement these three pillars, we identify 11 main bio-technical, cognitive, socio-political, and organizational levers. Bio-technical levers include those for (1) mobilizing complementarity between crop species to optimize natural resources use, (2) mobilizing functional biodiversity at the plot scale to optimize natural regulation of pests and diseases, (3) managing biodiversity at landscape and territorial scales, (4) increasing the efficiency of biogeochemical cycles, and (5) renewing targets for genetic improvement. Cognitive, socio-political, and organizational levers include those for (6) political and institutional action at the national and global level, (7) action at the local level to support producers, (8) political and organizational action at the territorial level, (9) the marketing and the development of new agri-chains, (10) the development of new methods for evaluating production systems, and (11) the recognition of the values of gender and generation within families and other organisational levels. This paper provides an overall orientation for the agroecological transition in tropical agriculture and also considers the socio-political context that underlies this transition.

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Section: Levers For Contributing To the Efficiency Of Biogeochemical ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Levers for the agroecological transition of tropical agriculture

Côté

Rapidel

Sourisseau

et al. 2022

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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“…Ranaivoson et al, 2017). However, under the sub-humid tropical climate of the Cerrado, the resulting increase in water infiltration enhances water drainage below the rooting zone (Da Silva et al, 2019;Scopel et al, 2004). This leads to significant losses of nutrients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maize relay intercropping with fodder crops for small-scale farmers in central Brazil

et al. 2020

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Relay intercropping of maize with fodder crops is a promising option for sustainable intensification of dairy small-scale farms in the Cerrado of Brazil. Twenty-six intercropping trials were conducted on farmers’ fields with the following experimental treatments: sole maize crop cropping (MS), maize-Brachiaria intercropping (MB) and maize-pigeon pea intercropping (MP). The trials were managed by the farmers, i.e. choice of conventional tillage (CT) versus no-tillage (NT), sowing dates, fertilization and weed control. Maize grain yield varied strongly across the farmer fields, from 100 to 5900 kg ha−1 in the MS treatment, 500 to 6900 kg ha−1 in MP and 300 to 5500 kg ha−1 in MB. Intercropping did not significantly affect maize grain yields under NT, but yields were reduced under CT in one out of two seasons. Maize yields in the intercropped systems were also higher under NT than CT. Total biomass productivity was significantly higher in the maize-fodder than in the sole maize system. An increased interval between sowing of maize and fodder crop significantly reduced the fodder crop biomass. Relay intercropping, especially in combination with NT, is a promising option if crop calendars and fertilization are properly managed by farmers to reduce interspecific competition between the maize and fodder crop.

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