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


Alert No. 30 (19 June 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.      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.

More information at: http://www.act-africa.org   

Contact: [log in to unmask]

 

3.      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. Learn more at www.ctic.org/WCCA 

The 6th WCCA announces registration is now open at https://www.ctic.org/registration/22/step/0/  Concurrent session tracks will explore the following areas of conservation agriculture:

 

Track 1:     Growing with less – the future of sustainable intensification

Track 2:     Weatherproofing agriculture – the adaptation of farming practices to address climate variability

Track 3:     Increasing conservation adoption – how innovative technology and approaches can drive greater adoption of conservation systems around the world

 

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]

 

4.      Carbon depletion by ploughing and its restoration by no-till cropping systems in Oxisols of sub-tropical and tropical agro-ecoregions in Brazil.

By João Carlos de Moraes Sá, Lucien Séguy, Florent Tivet, Rattan Lal, Serge Bouzinac, Paulo Rogério Borszowskei, Clever Briedis, Josiane Burkner dos Santos, Daiani da Cruz

Hartman, Clayton Giani Bertoloni, Jadir Rosa, Theodor Friedrich. In: Land Degradation and Development. Edited By: Professor Artemi Cerdà. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (doi: 10.1002/ldr.2218). May 2013. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ldr.2218/pdf

 

5.      Aggregate C depletion by plowing and its restoration by diverse biomass-C inputs under no-till in sub-tropical and tropical regions of Brazil. By Florent Tivet, Joa˜o Carlos de Moraes Sa´, Rattan Lal, Clever Briedis, Paulo Roge´ rio Borszowskei, Josiane Bu¨ rkner dos Santos, Anderson Farias, Guilherme Eurich, Daiani da Cruz Hartman, Mario Nadolny Junior, Serge Bouzinac, Lucien Se´guy. Soil & Tillage Research 126 (2013) 203–218. 2012 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2012.09.004)

 

6.      Risk and maize-based cropping systems for smallholder Malawi farmers using Conservation Agriculture technologies. By A. R. Ngwira, C. Thierfelder, N. Eash and D. M. Lambert. Experimental Agriculture page 1-13. 2013 (doi:10.1017/S0014479713000306)

 

7.      Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Foundation of Food Security through Sustainable Food Systems. A UNEP Synthesis Report. 2013.

 

8.      Conservation Tillage and Cropping Innovation Constructing the New Culture of Agriculture. By C. MiltonCoughenour and Shankaria Chamala. Iowa State University Press. 2000.

 

9.      Climate-smart smallholder agriculture: What’s different? By Elwyn Grainger-Jones. IFAD Occasional Paper 3. April 2012.

 

10.  Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture. The Montpellier Panel, 2013. London

 

11.  Scaling up conservation agriculture in Zambia €11 million in EU-funding to help over 300 000 small-scale farmers increase production. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/178349/icode/

12.  'No Till Bill' builds N -- Morawa grain grower and agronomist No Till Bill Crabtree is recording massive increases in nitrogen in his soils. Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Updates, Perth, 28 May, 2013.
 

13.  ACT April News Alert produced by African Conservation Tillage (ACT) Network, KARI NARL Compound, Waiyaki Way, Nairobi, Kenya. For more information, contact Saidi Mkomwa ([log in to unmask]), Executive Secretary.

 

14.  Two Wheel Tractor Newsletter May 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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