The conservation agriculture is practiced over 98 Hectares of agricultural land around the world, from humid regions to almost the Polar Regions. The conservation agriculture seems “too good to be true”; in fact, rather than burning crop residue following harvesting or tilling the biomass of the land, all these residue could be left in place as a soil cover. Then, at the beginning of the next cropping season, the field shall not be tilled at all; instead, special tools are used for a special process of direct seeding in the soil. In addition to limiting fertilization, soil erosion, and losing water; soil covering prevents the sprouting of harmful herbs, protects micro-organisms in the soil, and helps in the formation of organic matter. The result: reducing time and effort used to prepare the land, preventing fuel consumption, preventing air pollution, limiting the need to chemical inputs, and increasing harvest and agricultural income.
Normally, the phenomena is not that simple, since conservation agriculture requires as well a careful planning of the rotation, new curricula on fighting herbs, dealing with pests, as well as number of additional skills related to precision agriculture. Still, such agriculture is applied by a growing number of farmers all around the world from the Equator to almost Polar Regions. The latest studies suggest that conservation agriculture is practiced over 98 million Hectares of agricultural lands, especially in Northern and Southern America, as well as Southern Africa and Southern Asia.
“Farmers love this kind of agriculture, because it provides them with a mean to conserve, improve, and skillfully use their natural resources. It is an agriculture that conserves the efficiency of resources and provides an efficacy of these resources…” says FAO conservation agriculture specialist Theodor Friedrich.
Is it totally free of defects?
“Conservation agriculture is considered a mean of exchange of knowledge and technologies, which does not mean the total absence of defects. For example, conservation agriculture may request the use of pesticides whenever the infection is severe. As well, it might happen, during the transitional period from traditional to conservation agriculture that pests or pathogens in the soil could cause new problems resulting from changing occurring at the level of biological balance. However, once the environment of conservation agriculture stabilizes, it becomes more functional than traditional agriculture on the level of management and production. Till now, no evidence of problems related to unbeatable pests was shown when it comes to conservation agriculture.”
What is the difference between conservation agriculture and organic agriculture?
“Although both types of agriculture depend on natural operations, conservation agriculture does not warn from using chemical inputs. For example, pesticides are considered an important element of conservation agriculture, especially during the transitional phase, until reaching a new balance of herbs density. As well, considering the importance of soil activeness in this system, agricultural chemicals, including fertilizers, are used with special precaution. In general, we could say that farmers in conservation agriculture use quantities of chemical inputs less than their homologues in traditional agriculture, and over the course of the years, the quantities of chemical inputs decrease.”
Are conservation agriculture and integrated pests management are alike?
“In fact, they are not only alike but they work over the same principles as well. Just as integrated pests management, it supports the biological operation and improves the aspect of integrated pests management’s practices; such as the management of crops and pests as well as general operations of land protection. Without applying integrated pests management’s methods, soil plants would never be grown.”
Do pests’ problems increase because of crop residues?
“Over the long term, such problems would not occur as long as safe rotations are applied. In the case of single crop it is possible to avoid tilling, however this practice is not recommended since it might cause, just like in the case of traditional agriculture, problems related to pests.”
Is the conservation agriculture effective only with cereals?
“It is not like this. The system was adapted in order to become effective with vegetables and root crops. Right now it is possible to plant not just cereals and beans, but also a wide range of other crops, such as sugarcane, vegetables, potato, beetroot, and cassava. Perennial crops, like fruits and vine-plant, could be planted as well using conservation agriculture techniques.”
Is it true that conservation agriculture is effective only in specific environmental conditions or soil types?
“Until now, the only regions in which this concept was not successfully adapted are drylands suffering a severe deficiency of water and decrease of organic matter production.”
What is the role of livestock in the conservation agriculture?
“Livestock could be entirely integrated in the conservation agriculture, profiting from the reuse of nutrients. The phenomena lead to limiting environmental problems resulting from focusing on and intensifying animal production. The farmer could introduce crops to the rotation and thus he could enlarge its aspects and limit problems related to pests. In different occasions, feed crops could be used in order to achieve two objectives; the first being the production of animal feed and the second being the soil coverage. However, the contradiction between the use of organic matter in feeding animals or covering the soil shall be solved, especially in drylands where the production of biomass is low.”
Even though the numerous advantages of conservation agriculture, it is still spreading in a slow manner, why so?
“Many reasons control the phenomena. Firstly, there is a great pressure in order to apply conservation agriculture in tropical climates ant not in temperate climates. In Latin America, such agriculture is increasingly applied; however it takes a long course of time. Europe is slowly progressing toward this goal, where farmers still do not feel, generally, the urge to apply conservation agriculture, and environmental indicators are not seriously taken into consideration. However, the European Union of Conservation Agriculture is intensively working in order to change the situation.”
What about other developing regions?
Conservation agriculture requires management skills and tools that might not be available, especially in the disposition of small farmers.
“Yes, the early years of conservation agriculture might be difficult for the farmers. Thus, support, whether technical or financial, is needed in many cases. The basic need of the farmer in conservation agriculture is a no-till farming machine; which might not be available in the nearby. Plus, buying such machine without any prior knowledge of the system or without being familiar with it could imply many risks that most farmers are not ready to take. As well, manufacturer and traders of machines are not very encouraged to promote conservation agriculture since it requires less equipments and it limits the need to expensive huge ploughs and other tilling tools.”
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation