Innovating Traditional Production Systems Through On-Farm Conservation Agriculture and Agroforestry Research

Maize (Zea mays L.), the staple crop of Mexico, is often produced by smallholder farmers on sloping terrains. Historically, little agronomic research has been performed under the conditions of these farmers to support them in the sustainable intensification of their production systems. We set up trials at two locations in the state of Oaxaca to evaluate conservation agriculture and agroforestry in collaboration with local farmers. Crop diversification through crop rotations, multicropping, relay cropping or agroforestry increased system yields the most, by up to 1.4 t ha−1 in Teopoxco and 1.7 t ha−1 in Tamazulapam. Increased input use through increased fertilization or liming did not increase profitability enough to justify their use. Zero tillage and residue retention increased yields and reduced production costs. Conservation agriculture with agroforestry was a high-yielding, profitable system that also reduced farmers' risk by providing several harvests per year. The most profitable combinations of agroforestry and conservation agriculture could produce up to $4,854 USD ha−1 in Teopoxco and $2,143 USD ha−1 in Tamazulapam, while the control treatments in the same sites and years produced $175 USD ha−1 and $92 USD ha−1 respectively. In several years the main crop failed, while the trees were able to produce due to their different growing season compared to maize. Through adaptive investigation under farmers' conditions, sustainable intensification of traditional production system is possible with low-cost changes that are locally adapted and within farmers' possibilities.

Naturalness Is in the Eye of the Beholder

World conservation discourse concentrates on forests of high naturalness, which are variously termed intact forest landscapes, primary forests, pristine forests, and wilderness. In this essay, we bring Amazonian Indigenous perspectives to this discussion, both because Amazonian Indigenous Peoples have the right to be in the discussion and because they have a lot to teach us about naturalness. It is essential to understand that Indigenous ontologies do not distinguish culture from nature, since all beings, humans and non-humans, are part of a network of social-ecological interactions. Hence, forests are not natural, but the domus of different beings who inhabit, care for and cultivate them. Each part of the forest mosaic in different stages of social-ecological succession has different owners: when people open swiddens, they must respect other – non-human – forest residents to do so, and when they fallow their swiddens, these other forest residents reassume their original roles as managers and conservers of that part of the mosaic. Each stage of the succession also contains cultivated and domesticated plant populations, so we can think of a different kind of conservation: that of genetic resources. From this perspective, swidden-fallow represents on farm conservation, while less anthropogenic parts of the forest mosaic represent in situ conservation. We believe that reframing forest conservation and learning from Indigenous People can inspire innovative conservation science and policies.

Adaption Actions to Cope with Climate Change: Evidence from Farmers’ Preferences on an Agrobiodiversity Conservation Programme in the Mediterranean Area

The paper investigates the attitude of farmers to participate in an on-farm conservation programme based on the cultivation of vine landraces in Apulia, southern Italy, in place of the current commercial varieties, as an adaptation strategy to climate changes. The results, based on choice experiments and assessed through a latent class model, highlight a general interest of the regional farmers toward the biodiversity-based adaptation programme for coping with climate change. In particular, three classes of respondents were identified: (i) farmers operating on the whole regional territory and willing to cultivate up to 50% of their farm area with up to two landraces and compensation in line with the aid set by the regional rural programme; (ii) winegrowers of the intensive rural areas and willing to cultivate up to 25% of their farm with up to two landraces and a compensation greater than 200% compared to the aid of the regional rural programme; (iii) farmers operating in the intermediate rural areas and willing to cultivate up to 50% of their farm with up to three landraces and a compensation greater than 50% compared to the aid of the regional rural programme. Policymakers should calibrate adaption actions depending on rural areas, since economic, social, cultural, behavioural and cognitive barriers, as well as structural characteristics of farms, impact the farmers’ attitudes toward measures aimed at coping with climate change.

Community-based conservation of crop genetic resources

This chapter explores the current state of research, knowledge and practice of community-based conservation in the context of continued farmer-driven processes and the emergence of diverse external interventions. Autonomous community-based conservation is largely powered by farmer demand for crop diversity. Cultural, provisioning and regulating ecosystem services play an essential role. It is argued that an enhanced understanding of the drivers and rationales influencing farmers decision-making continues to be essential under the current scenario of accelerated global change. A large and diverse portfolio of exogenous interventions have emerged since on-farm conservation has become a development issue. A variety of different interventions designed to support on-farm conservation for are reviewed. This chapter also highlights the need for an effective monitoring framework for community-based management of crop genetic resources. Such a systems could enhance the measurement, metrics and intelligence underlying the on-farm conservation status of crops and landraces.

Farmers’ Perception about the Use of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) Landraces and Their Genetic Erosion in South Wollo Administrative Zone, Ethiopia

Genetic erosion can result in the loss of sorghum landrace genetic diversity. In the study areas, although it is generally believed that genetic erosion had occurred, there are no data on its amount and extent. Thus, this study is aimed to assess farmers’ perception about the use of sorghum landraces and their genetic erosion and to identify suggested reasons for the replacement of sorghum landraces. To this end, a field survey of 1200 farmers, randomly selected over the three districts (Tenta, Mekdela, and Delanta) during 2006 to 2015/2016 main cropping seasons, was undertaken. Structured questionnaire survey of households, focused group discussions, key informant interviews, and field observations were used to collect data. Moreover, the data for samples collected during 1980 were obtained from the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (EBI). Sorghum landrace history profile analysis indicated that there was an insight in the use of local varieties among local farmers over the past three or above decades. However, there is a reduction trend due to the different selection criteria described by farmers. “Kokita,” “Merar,” “Marchuke,” “Tinkish” (except for “Necho-Tinkish” and “Jofa-Tinkish”), and “Fesho” were totally excluded (lost) by local farmers attributed by home consumption preferences. The interviewed farmers indicated that genetic erosion had occurred. Genetic erosion of 100% was observed in white sorghum in Mekdela and 66.7% in Delanta and Tenta districts. Likewise, genetic erosion of red sorghum, 25%, 20%, and 75%, respectively, was detected in Tenta, Mekdela, and Delanta. For yellow sorghum grains, genetic erosion was 33.4% in Tenta and 66.7% in Mekdela and Delanta. Genetic erosion for “Tinkish” was found to be 66.7% in Tenta and 50% in Mekdela and Delanta. Based on farmer responses, genetic erosion was attributed to reduced benefits from landraces, drought, climate change, market price and demand, and reduction in land size. The actions of both natural and conscious selection on farm were also discussed in detail as genetic erosion scenarios. Therefore, attention should be given to conservation of farmers’ varieties in which involving farmers’ participation is very important in order to use their indigenous knowledge for conservation of FVs and on-farm conservation strategies should be practiced for FV sustainable use. Thus, genetic resource conservation is attained.