Conservation Agriculture: “Next Green Revolution”

(ENS)-Intensive land cultivation methods using tractors and plows area major cause of severe soil loss and land degradation in manydeveloping countries, the United Nations Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) said recently. If farmers apply ecologically soundcultivation, that is, if they use low-tillage methods, millions ofhectares of agricultural land can be saved from degradation anderosion, the organization said. Particularly in warmer areas, wherethe topsoil layer is thin, conventional tillage contributes to soilloss. Land degradation also occurs in industrialized countries due toexcessive mechanized tillage using powerful heavy machines.

At the opening of the World Congress on Conservation Agriculture,which took place recently in Madrid, an FAO representative said: “Theway soils are cultivated today needs to be changed. For agriculture tobe sustainable, economically attractive and socially acceptable, itmust successfully exploit the productive potential of those crop andanimal genetic resources which are best adapted to the localenvironment. This is achieved by effectively and efficiently usingavailable natural resources without depleting them.”

Applying so-called “Conservation Agriculture” means that farmersdrastically reduce tillage and keep a protective soil cover of leaves,stems and stalks from the previous crop. This cover shields the soilsurface from heat, wind and rain, keeps the soils cooler and reducesmoisture loss by evaporation. Less tillage also means lower fuel andlabor costs, and fewer purchases of heavy machinery, the FAO said.Crop rotation over several seasons is essential to minimize theoutbreak of pests and diseases, the group cautioned.

Globally, conservation agriculture is now being practiced on about 58million hectares of land, from the tropics almost to the ArcticCircle. The nations with the most land in ecologically soundcultivation include the US, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Paraguay.The system has been adapted for grain crops and pulses, and also forsugar cane, vegetables, potatoes, beets, cassava and fruits.

Farmers living in four Asian countries, Bangladesh, India, Nepal andPakistan, are taking up low till agriculture in such numbers thatscientists say the impact in the region could be as great as the GreenRevolution of the 1970s.

The success of the approach comes at an opportune time, given recentwater scarcity across Asia and a three-year drought in Pakistan thatthreatens the region’s rice and wheat yields. The transformation infarming is largely the result of pioneering agricultural research andpromotional work begun in the region by the Mexico based CIMMYT.

Said professor Timothy Reeves, director general of CIMMYT, “To feedsoaring populations, farmers must increasingly use more fertilizer,water, and herbicides to get the same or greater crop yields fromtheir land. Low till agriculture enables them to increase theirproductivity while at the same time decreasing, not increasing, theseinputs. This new agricultural revolution in South Asia is poised to bea greener revolution than the one that took place in the 1970s.”

“The message that no tillage reduces input costs, benefits soilquality and reduces erosion and environmental pollution, is beginningto be embraced by farmers worldwide,” the FAO said. For the farmer,conservation farming is attractive because it reduces productioncosts, time and labor. Soil tillage is the single most energyconsuming and air polluting operation among all farming activities. Bynot tilling the soil, farmers can save between 30 and 40 percent oftime, labor and fuel costs compared to conventional cropping.

In many areas it has been observed after some years of conservationfarming, natural springs that had disappeared started to flow again,the FAO said. Water filters easily through soils under conservationagriculture, increasing the groundwater level, reducing surface runoffand thus soil erosion.

“Conservation Agriculture reaches yields comparable with modernintensive agriculture but in a sustainable way,” the FAO stressed.“Yields tend to increase over the years with yield variationsdecreasing.”

Conservation agriculture is not organic farming, but both could becombined, the FAO emphasized. In conservation agriculture, farmchemicals, including fertilizer and herbicides may still be applied,but over the years, the quantities used tend to decline. The FAO hasbeen promoting conservation farming for more than ten years,particularly in Latin America where the practice has become a successstory.

More information on the World Congress on Conservation Agricultureis available at: www.ecaf.org/Congress/Latest_news.htm.

US Fails to Cut Pesticide Use on Crops

By Cat Lazaroff

(ENS)-Federal agencies should be doing more to encouragefarmers to reduce use of toxic pesticides on US crops and farmland,according to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigativearm of Congress. The agency found that despite federal promises toslash agricultural pesticide use, pesticide use has risen over thepast eight years.

A GAO report released by Sen. Patrick Leahy concluded that the USDept. of Agriculture and the US Environmental Protection Agency havedone little to act on their 1993 pledge to reduce pesticide usethrough promotion of integrated pest management (IPM) programs.National pesticide use had risen by almost 40 million pounds since1992, despite the IPM policy launched in 1993.

IPM combines the use of chemical pesticides with non-chemical pestmanagement practices such as planting pest resistant crops andprotecting beneficial insects, with a goal of reducing reliance onchemical pesticides. Farmers, communities, and environmental advocatesinterested in reducing pesticide use have long championed IPM, whichcan produce major environmental benefits in particular crops andlocations without sacrificing yield quality or quantity or addingcosts, the GAO notes.

For example, apple and pear growers in Washington, Oregon andCalifornia used IPM to cut use of chemical pesticides by 80 percent.

But the integrated pest management (IPM) program has run into seriousmanagement problems, the GAO found. “Federal efforts to support IPMadoption suffer from shortcomings in leadership, coordination, andmanagement. Specifically, USDA has not provided any departmentalentity with the authority to lead the IPM initiative,” the reportstates. “As a result of these deficiencies, federal funds are beingspent on IPM without a clear sense of purpose and priorities,” thereport concludes.

“Our food supply remains the safest and highest quality on earth, butwe continue to overdose our farmland with powerful and toxicpesticides and to underuse the safe and effective alternatives,” saidLeahy.