The population in the tropical uplands particularly in the Southeast Asia is rapidly increasing, but the natural resources are dwindling and degrading. Presentation provides evidence of Conservation Agriculture with Trees increasing crop yields, soil organic matter and income and resilience to environmental stresses (drought, intense rainfall, typhoons), while reducing labor and capital costs.

1. Agus%n
R
Mercado
Jr1
,
Rodel
Lasco1
and
Manuel
Reyes2
1World
Agroforestry
Centre
(ICRAF-­‐Philippines)
2North
Carolina
Agricultural
and
Technical
State
University
Conserva%on
Agriculture
With
Trees
for
Sustainable
Crop
Produc%on
Intensifica%on
in
the
Topical
Uplands
Global
Forum
for
Innova%ons
in
Agriculture
9-­‐11
March
2015.
Abu
Dhabi

2. Challenges
in
the
tropical
uplands
• Soils
are
inherently
poor
in
nutrients
par%cularly
P
(acid
soils)
• Small
farm
size
(2
has
=
5
acres)
• Inappropriate
farming
prac%ces
• High
rainfall
(>2500
mm/yr)
• Soil
erosion
is
high
• Declining
farm
produc%vity
• Deforesta%on
in
upper
watersheds
• Poverty
and
malnutri%on
• Lives
and
livelihoods
of
the
people
living
at
the
lowland
communi%es
are
affected
by
the
land
degrada%on
at
the
upper
watersheds

3. 5
Important
principles
of
CAT
on
Sloping
lands
• Minimal
soil
disturbance
• Con2nuous
mulch
or
ground
cover
• Diverse
crop
species/crop
rota2ons
• Integra2on
of
trees
• Integrated
water,
nutrient
and
pests
management

4. Conserva%on
agriculture
Trees
Trees
Banana,
fodder
grasses
and
legumes
Conserva%on
agriculture
with
trees
(CAT)
system
as
sloping
lands
management
strategy
• Minimal
soil
disturbance
• Con%nuous
mulch
or
ground
cover
• Crop
rota%ons/Diverse
crop
species

5. Resource
flows
of
an
integrated
conserva2on
agriculture
with
trees
(CAT)
system
Households
and
markets

6. Examples
of
conserva2on
agriculture
with
trees
(CAT)
Annual
based
systems
Perennial
based
systems

7. Impact
of
extreme
events
on
farming
systems
(During
typhoon
Bopha
(Pablo)
275
kph
-­‐2012>
P40
B
damages)
Monoculture
maize
Monoculture
banana
Conserva%on
Agriculture
with
Trees
(CAT)
Quick
recovery
of
CAT
(
5
months
later
Resilience
to
extreme
events!!!!

8. Conceptual
Framework
of
Conserva2on
Agriculture
with
Trees
(CAT)
Research
(Philippines)
Inputs/component
research
• Tree
species
• Crops
and
crop
varie2es
• Cropping
paVerns
• Equipment/
planters
• Soil
management
• Crop
nutri2on
• Pests
management
• Insects
• Diseases
• Weeds
Main
Research
• Conserva2on
Agriculture
produc2on
Systems
with
Trees
(CAPST)
:
Type
1,
2,
&
3
on-­‐farm
experimenta2on
Outputs/Impacts
• Soil
Quality
• Crop
yield
• Total
biomass
• Economics
• Gender
• Technology
networks
• Biodiversity
(earthworms)
Outcomes
• Capacity
(Human
capital)
• Incomes
• Food
security
• Environmental
services
(agri-­‐
diversity,
carbon
sequestra2on,
soil
and
water
conserva2on
)
To
provide
basket
of
op2ons
for
sloping
acid
upland
environments
Scaling
up

9. Component
researches
Tree
species
• Rubber
clonal
Evalua2on
• Coffee
• Cacao
• Indigenous
tree
species
Crop
varie%es
• Adlai
• Upland
rice
• Cassava
• Forages
• Herbaceous
legumes
• Maize
• Sorghum
• Cowpea
• Pigeon
pea
• Vegetables
Soil
Management
and
Crop
Nutri2on
• NPK
Omission
experiment
• NPK
rates
• Organic
fer2lizer
sources
• Organic
fer2lizer
op2mum
rate

10.
Long
term
CAPS
trials:
RM
&
FM
Treatments
T1
-­‐
Maize
+
Arachis
pintoi
(AP)
-­‐
Maize
+
AP
T2
-­‐
Maize
+
Sytlosanthes
guinanensis
(SG)-­‐
Fallow
T3
-­‐
Maize
+
Cowpea
(CP)-­‐
Upland
rice
+
CP
T4
-­‐
Maize
+
Rice
beans
(RB)
-­‐
Maize
+
RB
T5
-­‐
Cassava
+
Stylo
T6
.
Farmer’s
prac2ce

11. Maize
+
Arachis
pintoi

12. Soil
moisture
reten2on
(T1-­‐
Maize
+
Arachis
pintoi;
T6-­‐
monoculture
maize)
0-­‐15
cm
depth
0-­‐30
cm
depth

13. Net
benefit
comparison
CAPS
Treatments
Net
benefit
(US
$)
(/ha/yr)
Maize
+
Arachis
pintoi
(AP)
-­‐
Maize
+
AP
(2
crops/year)
1503
Maize
–
maize
monoculture
Farmer’s
prac%ce
(2
crops/year)
366

14. Arachis
pintoi
harves2ng
in
CAT
system
• Can
harvest
5,250
kg/ha
of
fresh
herbage
at
21-­‐day
pruning
intervals
• Can
support
4-­‐6
cows

15. Arachis
pintoi
as
feed
for
livestocks

16. Benefits
of
Arachis
pintoi
live
mulch
in
CAT
• No
2llage;
No
herbicide!
• Controls
erosion
effec2vely
• Improves
crop
yields
• Herbage
can
be
harvested
regularly
for
livestocks
(chicken,
pigs,
caVle,
goats,
etc).
Livestock
is
well
integrated
into
CA!!
• No
turn
around
period
between
crops!!
• No
reestablishment
cost

17. Maize
+
cowpea
/Upland
rice
+
cowpea

18. Net
benefit
comparison
CAPS
Treatments
Net
benefit
(US$)
(/ha/yr)
Maize
(mz)+
Cowpea
(CP)-­‐
Upland
rice
(Upl)
+
CP
(2
mz/yr;
4
cp/yr;
1
upl)
2371
Maize
–
maize
monoculture
Farmer’s
prac%ce
(2
crops)
366

19. Temporal
varia2on
of
soil
organic
maVer
at
upper
soil
layer
(0-­‐5
cm)
under
various
CAPS
treatments
North
Carolina
Agricultural
and
Technical
State
University
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
Organic
Matter
(%)
OM
at
0-­‐5
cm
@
F1
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6

20. Component
researches
• Evalua2on
of
crop
varie2es
that
are
best
for
conserva2on
agriculture
produc2on
systems
that
produce
high
biomass
and
economic
yield
which
includes
forage
grasses,
sorghum,
cassava,
upland
rice,
sweet
potato,
adlai,
cowpea
and
open
pollinated
maize
• Key
parameters
Biomass yield
Economic yield

21. Adlai (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) for Conservation
Agriculture Production Systems
Perennial
cereal
crop!!!!

22. Aboveground
total
dry
maVer
yield
of
different
Adlai
varie2es
First
crop
Ratoon
crop

23. CAT:
Good
innova%on
Natural
vegeta%ve
filter
strips
establishment
• Establishment
is
simple
and
low
cost
• Controls
soil
erosion
efficiently
• Improves
crop
yields
• Founda2on
for
agroforestry
establishment

24. CAT:
Good
innova%on
Rainwater
harves%ng
through
animal
built
embankment
(ABE)
• Simple
and
cost
effec2ve
• Addresses
rainfall
uncertain2es
during
climate
change
• Reduces
runoff
during
rainfall
extreme
events
• Opportuni2es
for
related
food,
nutri2onal
and
income
ac2vi2es
by
raising
fish
,
ducks,
etc
• Nutrients-­‐loaded
water
improves
crop
yields

25. CAT:
Good
innova%on
Organic
fer%lizer
produc%on
through
compos%ng
• Making
fer2lizer
more
available
and
cheaper
to
cash
poor
farmers.
• Improves
soil
carbon
stocks
• Mass
par2cipa2on
of
smallholders
to
climate
change
mi2ga2on
and
adapta2on.

26. CAT:
Good
innova%on
Vegetable
agroforestry
• Improve
vegetable
yields
up
to
40%
• Habitat
for
wildlife
• Soil
conserva2on
• Addi2onal
income
from
2mber

27. Scaling
up
CAT
innova2ons
through
Landcare
approach
planorm

28. Impact
of
Landcare
Approach
on
Adop%on
of
Soil
Conserva%on
Prac%ce
(NVS)

29. Summary
• Evidences
of
CAT
innova2ons
are
increasing
crop
yields,
soil
organic
maVer
and
income
and
resilience
to
environmental
stresses
(drought,
intense
rainfall,
typhoons),
while
reducing
labor
and
capital
costs.
• Adop2on
is
now
taking
place

30. Summary
• Government,
non-­‐government
organiza2ons
and
private
companies
should
address
the
barriers
to
CAT
research
and
development
by
providing
funds
and
subsidies,
inves2ng
on
CA
machineries
and
equipment,
strengthen
linkages
between
research
and
development
ac2vi2es
• Experiences
provided
the
founda2on
that
CAT
innova2ons
are
ready
for
scaling
up
in
Southeast
Asia
and
other
places
in
the
humid
tropics
with
similar
bio-­‐physical
and
socio-­‐economic
environments

31. For
informa%on
contact:
Agus2n
R.
Mercado,
Jr..
PhD
World
Agroforestry
Centre
-­‐
Philippines
agus%n9146@yahoo.com
Thank
you
very
much!