CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
for sustainable production intensification

Alert No. 29 (30 April 2013)
 

1.      Transforming Rural Livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya 20-25 October 2013 

The Soil Science Society of East Africa (SSSEA) in collaboration with African Soil Science Society (ASSS) invite participation at a conference intended to critically analyze Land and Water Management (LWM) technologies, innovative products and services; and strategies benefiting small-scale agriculture in Africa. This will be the 6th ASSS Conference.  A particular focus of this joint conference deals with the contribution of LWM in the Agricultural Production Value Chains, addressing threats and opportunities associated with climate change, and scaling up of proven technologies for transformational impact on the livelihoods of African small-scale farmers. In addition, land use planning and policy will be addressed during this conference. In line with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP’s) goal of eliminating hunger and reducing poverty through agriculture, the conference touches on the pillars relating to sustainable land management; market access; increasing food supply and reducing hunger

 Theme

Transforming Rural Livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation?

For further information: Barrack Okoba ([log in to unmask])

Please see the attached for registration, 

2.      Conference on Conservation Agriculture for Smallholders in Asia and Africa, Bangladesh, 8-13 December 2013 

Themes for the conference are – i) Machinery: Design and development of CA-based crop establishment and herbicide spraying machinery, implements, tools for smallholders,; ii) Weed management: Suitable weed management options (chemical, mechanical, crop rotation and biological); iii) Soil, water and agronomy; iv) Commercialization: adoption and continuous improvement of CA-based technologies; and v) Policy and institutional framework for the adoption of CA.

 For further information and expression of interests: Richard Bell ([log in to unmask]) or Enamul Haque ([log in to unmask]) 

3.      Africa Congress on Conservation Agriculture (ACCA), 18-21 March 2014.

ACT, the pan-African network of conservation agriculture (CA) stakeholders, is pioneering the coming together of practitioners in the continent through the Africa Conservation Agriculture Congress (ACCA) – this time with a difference! It will bring together and broker, together with partners, private sector investors (including small and medium farmers) with individual farmers, farmer’s organizations and cooperatives. Policy makers, scientists and the media will participate, however in advisory role capacity to facilitate reaching service provision along the whole value chain revolving around CA. ACCA is aiming at expanding the focus in promotion of conservation agriculture initiatives in Africa. The congress will encourage CA practitioners and researchers to address new research questions that will move the CA agenda beyond crop productivity and the catchment level to the wider global agricultural systems.

Venue: Lusaka, Zambia

Dates: 18 – 21st March 2014
Organizers: ACT, FAO, CIMMYT and AU-NEPAD  in partnership with COMESA, NORAD, CIRAD and the EU.

For more information, contact: [log in to unmask]

 4.      6th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture to be held June 22-26, 2014, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The 6th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture will be held June 22-26, 2014, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. See the flyer and learn more at www.ctic.org/WCCA 

Direct your inquiries to:

Karen A. Scanlon
Conservation Technology Information Center
3495 Kent Avenue, Suite J100
West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
Tel: 765-494-2238
Fax: 765-463-4106
Email: [log in to unmask] 

5.      No-Till” Farming Is a Growing Practice. By John Horowitz, Robert Ebel, Kohei Ueda. Economic Information Bulletin Number 70. November 2010. Economic Research Service. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

6.     Sustainable intensification in African agriculture. By Jules Pretty, Camilla Toulmin and Stella Williams. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 9(1): 5-24. 2011) (http://dx.doi.org/10.3763/ijas.2010.0583) 

7.    Ecosystem Services in Biologically Diversified versus Conventional Farming Systems: Benefits, Externalities, and Trade-Offs. By Claire Kremen and Albie Miles. Ecology and Society 17(4): 40. 2012. (http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05035-170440) 

8.      Making Farming Sustainable. By Dierk Jensen, Jean-Claude Hiron, Adrien Leroy, Jens Madsen, César Marcos. The Furrow 1: 15-18. 2013. 

9.      A forward look: water governance for agriculture and food in ACP countries. By Norman Uphoff. 2013. CTA Knowledge for Development. March 2013 Newsletter.
http://knowledge.cta.int/en/content/view/full/17690?utm_source=K4DNewsletterEN&utmmedium=Link&utm_campaign=K4D_EN_March2013

10.  Nourishing the World Sustainably: Scaling Up Agroecology.  By Miguel Altieri et al. 2012. Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. Geneva, Switzerland. 47 pp. 

11.  Farm mechanization & conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification project launched. CIMMYT Informa No. 1836,  22 March to 5 April 2103. 

12.  Conservation Agriculture in Central Asia: A bumpy road to food security? CIMMYT Informa 1839, 19-26 April 2013

13.  Water-saving techniques salvage wheat in drought-stricken Kazakhstan on Thursday, 21 March 2013. Posted in Wheat research, Asia

14. Two Wheel Tractor Newsletter March 2013 and April 2013. Produced by R. Jeff Esdaile, Agricultural. Consultant, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia ([log in to unmask]). 

15.  Up-dated Conservation Agriculture Data Base in AquaStat, FAO  

The CA land area data base has been updated based on the feedback received from our regular sources of information and has been posted in AquaStat. The latest figures can be seen at the FAO CA-Website at (http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/6c.html).

However, updating of the data base is an ongoing process, and anyone who would like to provide information on the land area under CA systems at the national level is most welcome to do anytime. Ideally, we would appreciate receiving the CA area information at the sub-national level, together with any relevant historical information on adoption, cropping pattern, farm size, agro-ecology, constraints, etc.   

For the recording of area under CA, please adhere to the quantification of the CA definition on the FAO-CA website: http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/6c.html

1. Minimum Soil Disturbance: Minimum soil disturbance refers to low disturbance no-tillage and direct seeding. The disturbed area must be less than 15 cm wide or less than 25% of the cropped area (whichever is lower). There should be no periodic tillage that disturbs a greater area than the aforementioned limits. Strip tillage is allowed if the disturbed area is less than the set limits.

2. Organic soil cover: Three categories are distinguished: 30-60%, >60-90% and >90% ground cover, measured immediately after the direct seeding operation. Area with less than 30% cover is not considered as CA.

3. Crop rotation/association: Rotations/associations should involve at least 3 different crops. However, repetitive wheat or maize cropping is not an exclusion factor for the purpose of this data collection, but rotation/association is recorded where practiced.

We would further like to stress that the database counts actual land area under annual crops with CA (permanent no-till). Area under perennial crops will be recorded separately. No-till area by crop will not be recorded to avoid double recording of the same land area.

Amir Kassam
Moderator

Plant Production and Protection Division
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 
00153 Rome 
Italy 
Tel: +39-06-5705-6375

e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca

Save and Grow

Sustainable Crop Production Intensification

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