Six Ways Agroecology Can Help Shape the Future of Farming
Addressing the challenges facing our global food system — from rising demand to rising temperatures — requires concerted action from across the agricultural sector and its value chain.
Agroecology has returned to the global spotlight, as one approach to bring farmers closer to meeting these challenges. Agroecology emerged as a science which supports food security and sustainable agriculture. In the 1960s, it was studied as the interaction between crops and the environment. In short, it can help us understand agriculture’s impact on our natural resource base.
Since then, many definitions of agroecology have evolved. Promoting farming systems that are beneficial to producers and society, as well as the earth’s ecosystems has become a central theme, prompting the concept of agroecology to become synonymous with outcomes such as resource use efficiency, optimizing external inputs and improving soil health.
Here are six ways this can be done, as featured in Farming First’s “Agroecology in Action” blog series.
1. Harnessing the potential of orphan crops
While the world gets the majority of its calories from just three staple crops, the many neglected varieties that are grown regionally offer huge potential for improving food and nutrition security, particularly in Africa. These crops are often already adapted to regional conditions but are “orphan” because they have not received the same level of attention from scientists to improve or optimise them.
The African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) is working to preserve and improve these species so they can continue to perform important functions within a diverse ecosystem while nourishing people.
2. Maximising natural processes
Agriculture requires a regular harvesting of crops. This results in large amounts of vital nutrients being removed from the soil. We must return these vital components to the soil, to ensure its health and sustainability.
With the help of rhizobium bacteria, soybean can naturally fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, which helps support optimum soil health and plant growth. For major soybean producers like Brazil, making best use of this natural ability to replenish soil minimises environmental impact while maximising productivity. However, soybeans cannot grow with nitrogen alone; they also need phosphorus. As there is no natural process to fix phosphorus into the soil, it must be added in the form of mineral fertilizers, applied carefully in the correct amounts. Natural and manmade innovations can work together in this way to achieve important agroecological outcomes, such as improved soil health.
3. Keeping pests at bay in the safest way
There is no single failsafe solution for crop pests like Fall Armyworm: farmers need to make use of all available tools and solutions. The first port of call is a biological approach, which can range from simple sticky traps to sophisticated microbial inoculants, which are referred to as “beneficial bacteria” that are developed from a crop’s natural enemies, such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. If this proves insufficient, farmers need to be equipped with the knowledge to use crop protection products safely and efficiently.
In Honduras, Fintrac has trained farmers on how to triple wash and perforate pesticide containers, which were then collected by safe disposal service teams. One of those farmer clients, Emiliano Dominiquez, who had been in danger of having his food and income source wiped out by aphids, instead saw crop yields increase six-fold as a result of integrating integrated pest management into his on-farm practices.
4. Encouraging forest-friendly farming
In Ethiopia, Farm Africa have been working with farmers to develop forest-friendly businesses such as bee-keeping and forest coffee production, which incentivise farmer-reforestation efforts. In the Bale region alone, the combination of income from forest enterprises and the anticipation of income from the sale of carbon credits has saved 12,496 hectares of forest between 2012 and 2015. This is one way the needs of rural people to utilize natural resources to eat and earn a living, can be balanced with the need to protect the environment.
5. Using data and technology to improve farmer decision-making
Smart handheld digital devices that can be deployed for scientific measuring and testing to enhance production and marketing are taking off. Pocket-sized sensors that detect the amount of nitrogen a plant requires, for example are now being used on African farms. The data collected helps farmers make better decisions on precisely how much fertilizer to apply, to reduce loss into the environment. Known as “precision agriculture”, this high-tech approach will go a long way to helping farmers put good agricultural practices into action, and move closer to farming systems that improve the health of the overall agroecosystem.
6. Optimizing external inputs
Optimizing external inputs and improving soil health are two key agrocological outcomes the United Nations has identified. Work to achieve this in sub-Saharan Africa, where inputs are less accessible and soil health is poor, is well underway.
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation is applying biotechnology approaches to produce rice that is both efficient in its use of nitrogen and water. This means the 20 million or more smallholder farmers that depend on rice as a staple food need to use less of these two crucial inputs. Less nitrogen is lost, soils become healthier, and crops can grow even when water is scarce.
Read ten essays on ways to achieve agroecological outcomes through farming innovations at the www.farmingfirst.org/agroecology
