Concept of Agro ecosystem Difference between manipulated Agroecology and Natural Ecology Sustainable Agriculture Biodiversification and Agroecology Sustainable Agroecosystems Agroecology and the Design of Sustainable Agroecosystems

1. AN APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE
NATURAL RESOURSE
MANAGEMENT

2. OutlineDefinitions
Concept of Agro ecosystem
Difference between manipulated Agroecology and
Natural Ecology
Sustainable Agriculture
Biodiversification and Agroecology
Sustainable Agroecosystems
Agroecology and the Design of Sustainable
Agroecosystems

3. Ecology
The study of interactions between organisms and their
environment.
Agroecology
It is the study of ecological processes that operate in
agricultural production systems
OR
An ecological approach to agriculture that views
agricultural areas as ecosystems and is concerned with
the ecological impact of agricultural practices.

4. Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in
combination with the nonliving components of their
environment, interacting as a system.
Components of an Ecosystem
ABIOTIC COMPONENTS BIOTIC COMPONENTS
Sunlight Primary producers
Temperature Herbivores
Precipitation Carnivores
Water or moisture Omnivores
Soil or water chemistry (e.g., P, NH4+) Detritivores
etc. etc.

5. Biotic components of an ecosystem

6. Concept of Agroecosystem
Agriculture + ecosystem = Agroecosystem
Agroecosystem
A spatially and functionally coherent unit of
agricultural activity which includes the living and
nonliving components involved in that unit as well as
their interactions.

7. Concept of Agroecosystem
Agroecosystems can be manipulated to improve
production and to produce more sustainably, with
fewer negative environmental or social impacts and
fewer external inputs.

9. Difference between manipulated
Agroecology and Natural Ecology
Five ways difference:
Monoculture
Crops generally planted in rows
Simplification of biodiversity (i.e. the degree of
variation of life)
Plough which exposes soil to erosion
Use of genetically modified organisms and artificially
selected crops

10. Semi-domesticated ecosystems that fall on a
gradient between ecosystems that have experienced
minimal human impact, and those under maximum
human control.
Examples - Integrated pest management aims to
control problematic pests through introduction of
other species, not application of pesticides or
herbicides to kill that pest. Method of intercropping.
Elimination of unsustainable practices such as
increasingly intensified pesticide use.

11. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
The efficient production of safe, high quality
agricultural products, in a way that protects and
improves:
the natural environment
the social and economic conditions of farmers
their employees and local communities
safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species

12. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

13. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
A whole-system approach to food, feed, and fiber
production that balances environmental soundness,
social equity, and economic viability among all
sectors of the public, including international and
intergenerational people.

14. Biodiversification
And Agroecology
Objective of Agroecology is to provide balanced
environments, sustained yields, biologically mediated
soil fertility and natural pest regulation through the
design of diversified Agroecosystem and the use of
low-input technologies.
By designing farming systems that mimic nature,
optimal use can be made of sunlight, soil nutrients
and rainfall.
The optimal behavior of Agroecosystems depends on
the level of interactions between the various biotic
and abiotic components and keeping synergies among
them is the key word.

15. SUSTAINABLE AGROECOSYSTEMS
Maintain theirnatural resources
Rely on minimum artificial inputs from outside the
farm system
Manage pests and diseases through internal
regulating mechanisms
Recover from the disturbances caused by
cultivation and harvest

16. Agroecology and the Design of
Sustainable Agroecosystems
Combining the different components of the farm
system, i.e. plants, animals, soil, water, climate and
people, so that they balance each other and have
the greatest possible synergetic effects.
Reducing the use of off-farm, external and non-
renewable inputs.
Relying mainly on resources within the
agroecosystems by replacing external inputs .
Improving the match between cropping patterns and
the productive potential and environmental
constraints of climate and landscape.

17. Agroecology provides the knowledge and methodology
necessary for developing an agriculture that is on the one
hand environmentally sound and on the other hand
highly productive, socially equitable and economically
viable.
Agroecological design is to integrate components so that
overall biological efficiency is improved, biodiversity is
preserved, and the agroecosystems productivity and its
self-regulating capacity is maintained.

18. QUESTIONS?