Analyzing influencing factors to scale up agroforestry systems in Colombia: A comparative ex-ante assessment of cacao farming and cattle ranching in two regions

Agroforestry systems (AFS) are proved to enhance sustainable land management. Thus, there is increasing demand for effective ways to scale up AFS so that more people can benefit. Consequently, this study assesses the scaling-up potential of agroforestry systems (AFS) using cacao farming and cattle ranching in Caquetá and Cesar, Colombia, as examples. An ex-ante assessment using the ScalA tool is conducted through interviews with AFS experts from institutions promoting AFS. Using a comparative approach, results reveal that AFS have different scaling-up potential depending on the type of farming system and location characteristics. In our case, it is slightly higher for cacao farming than for cattle ranching in both regions and it is higher in Caquetá than in Cesar for both systems. Factors hindering the scaling-up potential for both regions are economic conditions at the local and regional levels since there is a lack of stable and differentiated markets to absorb AFS products. In contrast, the scaling-up potential in both regions is increased by the factors related to the capacity of the organizations that promote AFS and the attitudes of local communities toward them. The study generates information about factors that may hinder or foster AFS scaling-up, including not just the capacities and mechanisms to promote them but also the enabling conditions. This contributes to prioritizing AFS interventions and better allocating their resources to increase their chances of successful scaling-up

Combining sustainable livelihood and farm sustainability approaches to identify relevant intensification options: Implications for households with crop-based and gathering-based livelihoods in Tanzania

In low-income countries, the livelihoods of smallholders are affected to different extent by multiple issues, such as food insecurity or low soil fertility, depending on their multiple assets and farming characteristics. In this study, we aim at assessing the current sustainability of households in Tanzania to suggest potential changes in farming system to increase the household́ sustainability. Household survey data from 891 households in two regions of Tanzania (dry Dodoma and humid Morogoro) were used to build composite sustainability indices representing the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social), based on 46 basic indicators. Then, a household typology was developed through principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis of descriptive variables, and regression analysis linked the sustainability of farms with household characteristics. The analysis revealed significant differences in household types that relied on different livelihood strategies including particularly a “Gathering-based” type in Dodoma and two “Crop-based” types in both regions. These livelihoods significantly influenced the level of farming system sustainability. Particularly, the households in the “Gathering-based” type performed worst on all three pillars of sustainability. By examining the level of capitals from the different household types, we identified that the “Gathering-based” type and “Crop-based” types could improve their livelihood and be better off if they adopt various upgrading solutions. Such solutions include intercropping and optimised weeding to increase productivity and resource-use efficiency, for which these households have sufficient labour resources. Additionally, livestock rearing and use of fertilisers coupled with rainwater harvesting can increase soil fertility and water use efficiency, and hence food security, without compromising the environmental component of sustainability. To facilitate the adoption of these sustainable intensification options, agricultural policies and appropriate training need to be implemented to fit the local context and diversity of household types

Assessing the effect of intercropped leguminous service crops on main crops and soil processes using APSIM NG

CONTEXT: To improve agricultural sustainability, alternative cultivation methods and assessment tools need to be developed. Integrating service crops (SC) can potentially increase cropping system multifunctionality and mitigate negative climate and environmental impacts of agriculture. OBJECTIVES: (1) Calibrate oats, winter wheat and red clover SC, grown as sole crops and intercrops, in the cropping system model APSIM NG for northern Europe climate conditions. (2) Use the calibrated crop modules to assess ecosystem processes from an intercropping system. (3) Discuss the role of mechanistic crop models in assessing ecosystem services and disservices from complex cropping systems. METHODS: The crops were calibrated with data from an oats-winter wheat cropping sequence at two field sites. Thirty weather datasets were created from historical weather data to generate weather-dependent variability in crop performance and related processes. The assessment compared two scenarios, with or without an intercropped red clover SC sown in oats and terminated the following spring in winter wheat. Outputs representing processes related to important ecosystem services were extracted from the simulations. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Calibration of the three crops resulted in satisfactory biomass levels at the end of the growing season. Including a SC reduced oat yield, but increased winter wheat yield in two-thirds of simulations. Model outputs showed that including a SC resulted in 33–79% more fresh soil organic carbon, depending on site, compared with no SC. Nitrogen (N) uptake by both crops was highest in the SC scenario. In oats, N losses did not differ between the two scenarios, while in winter wheat the SC scenario had approximately 50% lower N leaching losses and 30% higher gaseous N emissions. However, in the fallow period from winter wheat harvest through to spring, both types of N losses were elevated in the SC scenario. The SC scenario had only a minor effect on water dynamics, causing a small reduction in soil water content. SIGNIFICANCE: In this paper we give an example of how APSIM NG can be used to assess ecosystem services from complex agricultural systems using a case study with intercropping of cereals and leguminous SCs. APSIM NG was useful in providing a holistic assessment, and we show that intercropping with a SC can improve cropping system performance and reduce negative impacts, but long-term strategic management of N is required to prevent increased losses. To further improve simulation of intercrops more accurate simulation of early growth is needed for all crops included.</p

Trans-SEC - Estratégias inovadoras para salvaguardar a segurança alimentar na Tanzânia utilizando troca de tecnologias e conhecimento: uma abordagem centrada em pessoas

A segurança alimentar é um dos desafios mais prementes para a humanidade atualmente. Flutuações de mercado, alta dependência de insumos externos, eventos climáticos extremos, sistemas agrícolas pouco diversificados e doenças estão aumentando e intensificando tanto a imprevisibilidade quanto a insegurança alimentar regional, especialmente na África sub-Sahaariana. Para que projetos tenham um impacto positivo e gerem soluções a longo prazo, torna se imperativo que estes tenham foco em análises mais profundas da cadeia produtiva alimentos (desde os recursos naturais necessários para a produção até os consumidores), e que todos os atores estejam envolvidos no design e disseminação das estratégias agroecológicas. Estes são os pressupostos do projeto Trans- SEC “Estratégias inovadoras para salvaguardar a segurança alimentar na Tanzânia utilizando troca de tecnologia e conhecimento: uma abordagem centrada em pessoas”. Stakeholders vem testando, em conjunto, uma serie de estratégias para fortalecer a segurança alimentar local e regional.Eje: B5 Sistemas de conocimiento (Relatos de experiencias)Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Trans-SEC - Estratégias inovadoras para salvaguardar a segurança alimentar na Tanzânia utilizando troca de tecnologias e conhecimento: uma abordagem centrada em pessoas

A segurança alimentar é um dos desafios mais prementes para a humanidade atualmente. Flutuações de mercado, alta dependência de insumos externos, eventos climáticos extremos, sistemas agrícolas pouco diversificados e doenças estão aumentando e intensificando tanto a imprevisibilidade quanto a insegurança alimentar regional, especialmente na África sub-Sahaariana. Para que projetos tenham um impacto positivo e gerem soluções a longo prazo, torna se imperativo que estes tenham foco em análises mais profundas da cadeia produtiva alimentos (desde os recursos naturais necessários para a produção até os consumidores), e que todos os atores estejam envolvidos no design e disseminação das estratégias agroecológicas. Estes são os pressupostos do projeto Trans- SEC “Estratégias inovadoras para salvaguardar a segurança alimentar na Tanzânia utilizando troca de tecnologia e conhecimento: uma abordagem centrada em pessoas”. Stakeholders vem testando, em conjunto, uma serie de estratégias para fortalecer a segurança alimentar local e regional.Eje: B5 Sistemas de conocimiento (Relatos de experiencias)Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Is dry soil planting an adaptation strategy for maize cultivation in semi-arid Tanzania?

Agriculture has the greatest potential to lift the African continent out of poverty and alleviate hunger. Among the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania has an abundance of natural resources and major agricultural potential. However, one of the most important constraints facing Tanzania’s agricultural sector is the dependence on unreliable and irregular weather, including rainfall. A strategy to cope with climate uncertainty in semi-arid regions is to proceed with the sowing of the crop before the onset of the rainy season. The advantage is that when the rains start, seeds are already in the soil and can begin immediately the process of germination. The objective of this paper was to assess the effectiveness of dry-soil planting for maize as an adaptation strategy in the context of a changing climate in Dodoma, a semi-arid region in Tanzania. For this assessment, the DSSAT crop model was used in combination with climate scenarios based on representative concentration pathways. A probability of crop failure of more than 80% can be expected when sowing occurs during the planting window (of 21 days) starting on 1st November. The next planting window we assessed, starting on 23rd November (which was still before the onset of rain), presented significantly lower probabilities of crop failure, indicating that sowing before the onset of the rainy season is a suitable adaptation strategy. Results also indicated that, despite not reaching the highest maize grain yields, fields prepared for dry-soil planting still produced adequate yields. The cultivation of several fields using the dry planting method is a strategy farmers can use to cope with low rainfall conditions, since it increases the chances of harvesting at least some of the cultivated fields. We conclude that dry-soil planting is a feasible and valid technique, even in scenarios of climate change, in order to provide acceptable maize yields in semi-arid Tanzania

Environmental and cultivar variability in composition, content and biological activity of phenolic acids and alkylresorcinols of winter wheat grains from a multi-site field trial across Europe

Different factors such as the genotype, environmental conditions, temperature stress, solar radiation and others can influence the phytochemical status of plants. The concentration of phenolic acids and alkylresorciols (ARs) as well as their chemical composition and biological activity have been determined in twelve winter wheat cultivars grown at eight European locations. This was the first winter wheat multi-location field trial of the European Consortium for Open Field Experimentation (ECOFE). Extracts from grain were analyzed using a UPLC-PDA-ESI-MS system (phenolic acids), UPLC-PDA-MS/MS (alkylresorcinols) and TLC-DPPH• test with ImageJ program (antiradical activity). The phenolic acid profile consisted of five hydroxybenzoic acid and four hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, among which ferulic and sinapic acids were predominated. The ARs profile consisted of nine AR derivatives, among which 5-n-heneicosylresorcinol (C21:0) and 5-n-nonadecanylresorcinol (C19:0) were predominated. Our study showed significant differences in phenolic acids and AR content between wheat cultivars, as well as between locations. We observed a positive correlation between the biological activity of extracts and the total amount of phenolic acids and ARs. Two cultivars, Chambo and Julius (average of all sites) and samples from the Spanish site (average of all cultivars) showed the highest content and composition of nutritional substances.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio