Conservation Agriculture working group annual meeting

1. CARWG and Conservation
Agriculture/Sustainable
Agriculture/Agroecology/Climate Smart
Agriculture – wading through the jargon
CARWG Annual Meeting,
Holiday Inn, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
30-31 October 2014

2. Agroecology
Agroecology is defined as the application of ecological
concepts and principles to the design and management of
sustainable agroecosystems (Gliessman, 1998)
Planning:
• Use a holistic approach to the identification, the analysis and the
resolution of issues related to farming
• Harmonise the farming system with the productive potential and
the physical limits of the surrounding landscape

3. Resource use:
Recycle and optimise the use of nutrients and energy on the farm. In
particular:
• Enhance the recycling of biomass, with a view to optimising
organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling over time.
• Minimise losses of energy, water, nutrients and genetic resources
by enhancing the conservation and regeneration of soil and water
resources and of agro-biodiversity.
• Avoid the unnecessary use of agrochemical and other technologies
that adversely affect the environment and human health.
• Minimise the use of external, non-renewable resources (including
fossil fuels)

4. Field and landscape management
• Enhance beneficial biological interactions and synergies among the
components of agro-biodiversity,
• Diversify species and genetic resources in the agro-ecosystem (i.e.
at field and landscape level) over time.
• Strengthen the ‘immune system’ of agricultural systems by
enhancing functional biodiversity: pests and diseases should be
managed and prevented rather than controlled.
• Use local crop varieties and livestock breeds so as to enhance
genetic diversity and adaptation to changing biotic and
environmental conditions.
• Provide the most favourable soil conditions for plant growth,
particularly by managing organic matter and by enhancing soil
biological activity

5. Examples
• Conservation tillage
• Mixing crops in a single plot, such as intercropping and poly-
cultures
• Crop rotation and fallowing
• Cover crops and mulching
• Crop-livestock integration
• Integrated nutrient management
• Biological management of pests, diseases and weeds,
• Efficient water harvesting -(especially in dryland
• Manipulation of vegetation structure and plant associations
• Agro-forestry, especially the use of multifunctional trees
• Use of local resources and renewable energy sources,
composting and waste recycling
• Holistic landscape management

6. • Is agriculture that integrates three principles –
• environmental health;
• economic profitability;
• social and economic equity
• Rest of principle that we must meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs
Sustainable agriculture

7. Conservation Agriculture is an approach to managing agro-
ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity and
food security while preserving and enhancing the resource
base and the environment. CA is characterized by three
linked principles, namely
1. Continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance.
2. Permanent organic soil cover.
3. Diversification of crop species grown in sequences and/or
associations.
Conservation Agriculture

8. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries that sustainably
• Increase productivity and incomes
• Increases resilience of the systems to climate change and
variability (adaptation)
• Reduces/removes GHG - reduces resource inputs and
greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output (mitigation)
• Contributes to the attainment of national food security and other
development goals
• Combined policy, technology and financing approach to enable
countries to achieve sustainable agricultural development under climate
change
• Recognize that productivity is important but not everything- focus on
food systems
Climate Smart Agriculture

9. Promote CA and, based on context, enhance the resilience
and productivity of the system by integrating other
relevant practices and technologies
What then for CARWG?