Global CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

for sustainable agriculture, land and ecosystem management


Dear Subscribers,

Please see herebelow the January 2021 Scoopit newsletter on Conservation Agriculture from Cornell.

Thank you Prof. Peter Hobbs for sharing.

Apologies for any cross-posting.

Amir Kassam

Moderator

Global CA-CoP

e-mail: [log in to unmask]

URL: http://www.fao.org/conservation-agriculture


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Peter Hobbs <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 at 14:54
Subject: January 2021 Scoopit newsletter
To: Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>


Dear Amir: Here is our January 2021 Conservation Agriculture Scoopit Research Update. You can also view online at https://www.scoop.it/topic/conservation-agriculture-by-conservation-ag?curate=true&null 
Can you send this out to people who get your listserve material? The hard copy is below.

An easier link to see all the research papers on CA is as follows:

Also, visit our main website at http://soilhealth.org for news and other CA information. Please use this link since we had to move our web site to a new server and this links takes you to the CA web site.

Many thanks for helping to distribute this. Happy New Year. Peter

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This paper says that despite positive biophysical benefits of CA, low adoption rates have been the focus of several research projects. This study uses a technographic and participatory approach to move beyond the adoption framework and look at how agricultural decision making takes place, how agriculture is performed in the context of project intervention and how practice adaptation plays out in the context of interacting knowledge. The study shows that the assumed model of technology transfer with reference to climate-smart agriculture interventions is not as linear and effective as assumed previously. The study suggests that the following 4 items need to be understood (a) social dynamics and information transfer, (b) contextual costs and benefits, (c) experience and risk aversion, and (d) practice adaptation. Investments should build on existing knowledge and farming systems including a focus on the dynamic decision process to support the 'scaling up, scaling out and scaling deep' agenda for sustainable agricultural innovations.
This paper was included because of the debate about use of residues in crop-livestock systems in Africa and their impact on adoption of CA. The area in Zimbabwe for this study is a semi-arid area where yields are low and residue biomass is limited. The paper looks at the economic tradeoffs and profitability of using residues for feeding the livestock or livestock using household surveys. The results show that a maize-macuna rotation can reduce tradeoffs of residues for mulch or feed. The results also show that The poverty effects of all considered alternative biomass options are limited; they do not raise income sufficiently to lift farmers out of poverty. Further research is needed to establish the competitiveness of alternative biomass enhancing technologies and the socio-economic processes that can facilitate sustainable intensification of mixed crop-livestock systems, particularly in semi-arid environments.



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