Intensifying agriculture in humid areas
This Newsletter will concentrate on the technical aspects of the discussion about the destruction tropical rainforests. In particular, it will be considered the question of ‘how farming in the tropics can be made more productive and sustainable to lessen the pressure on tropical forests?’.
Table of contents:
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8 - 9written by Milton FloresThe use of legumes to improve the fertility conditions of agricultural soils is becoming one of the most popular ideas among the international community of rural development workers. Along with the Participatory Methodology, the introduction of legumes to traditional agricultural practices constitutes a fundamental part of the working agenda of almost any new development programme.
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10 - 10written by Roland BunchGreen manure crops could be critical to mankind. Probably something around 30% of all the increases in harvests achieved by small farmers in the Third World during the last three decades has been achieved through the use of chemical fertilizers. Should petroleum prices shoot up once again, chemical fertilizers could easily become too expensive to be economically feasible for use with traditional basic grains. Almost overnight, Third World basic grain production could plummet, causing famines the extent of which would make the present situation in Africa seem mild by comparison.
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11 - 13written by Kurniatun Hairiah , Jan van der HeideCover crops have been used for a long time by small farmers in the tropics in their crop rotations, mostly as a cheap source of biologically fixed nitrogen, for the recycling of leached nutrients, for protection against erosion, for the build-up and maintenance of soil organic matter and for the suppression of weeds. Unfortunately, these benefits have only recently begun to receive attention by scientists or development agencies, after a long period of neglect.
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14 - 15written by Len ReynoldsWith an annual rainfall of over 1300 mm, and a growing season of over 8 months, farmers in southern Nigeria harvest 2 crops per year. Two ha of land are cultivated by hand, and a further 6-8 ha may be held under bush fallow. The major crops are yams, cassava and maize; 90% of the farmers own livestock (goats, sheep and poultry). Small ruminants receive very little attention and rely on scavenging from household wastes to supplement natural grass and browse in the diet. Because of the rise in pressure of human population on the land, confinement and tethering of animals, particularly in the crop growing season, is increasingly important, requiring farmers to cut and carry forage for these animals.
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16 - 16written by John IngramHow can the increasing population of the Tropics feed itself? Certainly, where finances allow, the continued use of artificial fertilizers and irrigation, coupled with further developments in plant breeding and crop protection, will play an important role. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need to improve the general efficiency with which all inputs -artificial or natural- are used, and to manage the soil with a view to its overall fertility. These issues are pertinent to subsistence and commercial farmers alike.
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18 - 19written by Paul ValentinFor people involved in the development of organic agriculture in the Philippines, there is at least one important local experience no one can afford to miss. For the past eight years, Mr. Lorenzo Jose, a rice farmer from Floridablanca, Pampanga, has defied the chemical based technology as propagated by the International Rice Research Institute and the Philippine government and is now showing that alternative systems, based on zero outside inputs are feasible.
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21 - 23written by Julian F GonsalvesThe contribution of home-gardens or backyard gardens to household and thereby national food security has often gone unnoticed by policy makers and economists. Unfortunately, even international, multilateral and bilateral aid organisations, NGO's and governments have, at least in this past decade, tended to neglect this sector.
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24 - 26written by Willem C. BeetsOne of the major means of increasing agricultural productivity in the tropics is through continuous cultivation. Year-round cropping is feasible where incoming solar energy, soils, and the moisture balance allow for continuous growth of plants. This condition often prevails in the humid tropics and can be created in the semi-arid tropics through irrigation. Under actual farming conditions continuous cropping is not often achieved since the high levels of solar energy receipt and heavy rainfall are associated with many problems that make cultivation difficult and reduce agricultural output considerably.
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28 - 29written by Maryam NiamirOver thousands of years, the pastoralist in Africa has developed a set of principles and strategies for managing the natural resources in agreement with his harsh and variable physical environment and his social needs. Recently however, he has had to face external pressures, such as crop expansion into high quality rangelands, nationalisation of land by governments, population increase, forceful sedentarisation, indiscriminate water development, and a relentless series of droughts, all of which have contributed to pasture shortages and land degradation.
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