Best Practices in Land and Water Management

by José R. Benites, FAO Land and Water Development

Division (AGL) for FAO Workshop on GAPs, October

2004

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Common practices Removal or burning of

pasture/crop residues Continuous ploughing

and harrowing Misuse /waste of water Overgrazing Deforestation Mono-cropping Excessive use of

fertilisers Misuse of pesticides

Consequences Poor soil cover, high runoff Erosion and sedimentation Increase risk of drought and flood Loss of soil fertility/productivity Salinity Falling water table/ drying streams Food and health insecurity Water contamination: ground & surface Greenhouse gas release Increased pest and disease incidence Loss of biodiversity and ecological functions

Why Best Land Management?

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Integrated systems approaches

Soil biological management

Soil moisture management - WHC

Soil physical + chemical management

Farmer benefits of Farmer benefits of Integrated land Integrated land managementmanagement

Human management of the landscape

and ecosystem

Tied ridges, mulch, cover

crops, etc

Soil life and OM (crop species;

roots, rotations)

Soil tillage, fertilizers,

manure, lime Reliable yield & quality

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Programmes / Activities:What? / Where?

Land management and conservation approaches and technologies - WOCAT

Soil fertility / productivity improvement Visual soil assessment LADA – global land degradation

assessment of drylands GIAHS – globally important agricultural

heritage systems Watershed and river basin management

(Okavango, Kagera and Nile basins) Farmer empowerment and

experimentation (LWM-FFS approaches) Land use planning by local institutions

(Marmelade, Haiti; Tunisia; Croatia)

BEFORE

AFTER

bare hills, erosion, loss of water

good land cover and yields

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Objective: Sustainable and Productive Land Use and Management Practices

to work with farmers and decision makers

Improving land quality, farming capacity and productivity & food and livelihood security

to use multiple stakeholders approaches: linking farmer groups, extension, research, urban land owners/ herders, consumers, government, NGO, private sector

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Suggested Norms for GAP Protocols in relation to land management

COMPULSORY: 100 % OF NORMS SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED

REQUIRED (MAJORS): 85% OF NORMS SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED

SUGGESTED (MINORS): MUST BE ENCOURAGED AND SUPPORTED

ALTHOUGH THEIR UPTAKE IS NOT COMPULSORY

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Lessons for GAP work (1): Minimize burning of pastures and crop residues

Farmers burn for pasture germination or insect and disease control or to facilitate tillage BUT... Burning reduces return of organic matter to the soil and soil surface protection against raindrop impact and wind. Burning releases greenhouse gases, and may cause air pollution and health problems.

Straw burning prohibition

Help farmers to direct seed into cover crops and residues (as a substitute for burning)

Regulate timing and frequency of pasture burning

Increase livestock feed and straw marketing

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Lessons for GAP work (2): Reduce repetitive tillage - cause of land degradation, soil erosion and water loss

Frequent tillage results in compaction, high runoff rates and waterlogging, massive erosion, severe losses of soil nutrients and organic matter, and as a result rapidly declining yields.

Conventional tillage releases 20 - 30% of native soil C to the atmosphere in the first 20 years in temperate regions, and 50 - 75% in the tropics.

Support Conservation Agriculture tools/adapted techniques to:• stop repetitive ploughing (inversion) and reduce tillage (chisels, rippers, discs, harrows, etc.)• minimize removal or incorporation of crop residues;• replace crop monoculture by rotations (break crops) and associations (mixed systems)• control traffic to minimize compaction (by feet, draught animals, tractors, harvesters, etc.)

Regulations to minimize soil disturbance: direct seeding, reduced traffic, integrated weed control techniques

Encourage permanent soil cover, minimum soil tillage, enhanced biomassMonitor earthworms, soil structure, soil moisture and erosion.

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Lessons for GAP work (3): Improve soil cover and crop rotations

A bare, unprotected soil surface: Accelerates runoff, erosion, surface crusting, compaction

and declining soil fertility. Requires a lot of labour and energy (often strenuous) and

external inputs for soil restoration; Creates calendar constraints (...too dry or wet)

Regulate crop residue burning and crop rotationsDiscourage residue incorporation and bare soils

Encourage no-or minimum tillage, ridge till and seasonal residue management.

Combine rotations of grain crops with cover crops and associations (varied

products - food, fodder, biomass) Adapt practices for local soil, climate

and socioeconomic conditions

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Lessons for GAP work (4): Living soil, soil organic matter and Carbon

sequestration Incorporation of crop residues by ploughing

increases leaching and mineralization of nutrients and release of carbon as CO2.

Loss of soil organic matter harms soil structure and life: rainwater does not infiltrate, soil moisture is not retained (surface crusting; reduced pore spaces; runoff causes erosion)

Build up residues and crops on the groundAvoid ploughing in fresh organic materials

Encourage build up of soil organic matter: high biomass rotations, cover crops, reduced or no tillage

and rotational grazing.

Build capacity in conservation agriculture: direct seeding (no-till), cover crops and strip-cropping

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Lessons for GAP work (5): Soil Fertility / Productivity Improvement

Nutrients are lost from the soil through erosion, leaching, crop removal or via gas release

Nutrient mining through intensive monocultures causes an exhaustion of the major nutrients N and P on soils with only small total contents of mineral and organic reserves.

Regulate and fine farmers for nutrient losses in water supplies – through monocropping,

intensive tillage, erosion.

Adapt and train farmers in integrated plant nutrient management practices

Promote practices that enhance soil fertility: • use of animal manures, cover crops, compost; • good residue management; • selective rotations; • zero or reduced tillage; • minimize soil compaction and break hardpans;• soil and water conservation

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Lessons for GAP work (6): Drought-resistant soils and landscapes

Runoff control measures offer barriers/ diversions across the land (lateral flow), once water has begun to run down-slope.

They have no effect to reduce prior impact of erosive raindrops or capture - infiltration into the soil (vertical flow).

Ban severe mechanical disturbanceReplace expensive physical barriers by

practices to improve soil health and productivity (soil OM, life, moisture)

Provide no/minimum till equipment, tools, pasture, fodder and cover crop seed

Promote practices to enhance soil life and biological activity: organic matter and soil moisture management;

reduce soil damage; use short rotations

How to slow lateral flow?

How to protect the soil?

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Lessons for GAP work (7): Community land use planning

Promote use of PRA and survey techniques for diagnosis, mapping, discussion, landscape planning and farm/farmer characterisation (gender and socio-economic analysis)

Promote participatory land use planning and mapping to meet community needs (woodlots, trees on farm, water access, secure tenure/ leasehold, rural roads and local markets, etc...)

Promote continuous application and updating of community plans through district budgets and support mechanisms

Monitor extent to which community needs are being met

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Lessons for GAP work (8): Monitor using Visual Soil Assessment

1 3

20yrs MaizeWilliams – E2722760 N6095000 15 August 2001Kairanga silty clay loam

0.5 1.51 2

1.5 30 01 21 12 4

16.5

VSA score <10 (Poor condition): Pasture & crop performance is poor and production costs high. 20–45% decline in crop yield

VSA score = 15 (Moderate condition): 10–15% decline in crop yields

VSA score >20 (Good condition): Pasture + crop performance excellent, production costs low (provided climatic conditions, soil moisture, soil

fertility, pest and plant diseases, etc. are non-limiting.

soil structure and texture

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Lessons for GAP work (9): Land degradation Assessment - LADA

2. Establishment of a LADA Task Force

1. Identification of Land Degradation Problems and Users Needs Assessment

3. Stocktaking & Preliminary Analysis

5. Field Surveys &Participatory Assessment

7. Monitoring Strategies & Tools

6. Information Integration

4. Stratification & Sampling Strategy

LADA Steps

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BEST LAND MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL: Example from Spain

Straw burning prohibition and contour tillage (COMPULSORY)

To keep crop residues over the soil during a minimum period (9 €/ ha)

Minimum tillage( 54€/ ha)

No-till-direct seeding (103 €/ha)

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Conclusions: How to promote adoption of GAP in land management

Government organizations need to serve farmer clients in more interdisciplinary and participatory ways • Re-orient agriculture and rural development programmes to promote and nurture active

participation of farmers and their organizations

• Target the production chain: GAP-LWM productivity + food quality markets health and nutrition

• Participatory research and support services to facilitate transition from conventional agriculture to GAP-LWM

Restructure inappropriate macro-economic and agricultural policies • Adopt policies that promote and enforce sustainable and productive land and water use

through GAP protocols

• Protect the integrity of agricultural families – land tenure, build on indigenous knowledge, promote youth in agriculture, reduce labour/drudgery

• Adjust legislation to facilitate initiatives of local groups adopting GAP (help meet their needs)