According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are three major principles of Conservation Agriculture. The first is minimum mechanical soil disturbance that means no tillage through direct seed and/or fertilizer placement. The second principle based on permanent soil organic cover in which at least 30 percent cover with crop residues and/ or cover crops.
And the third is species diversification which is practiced through varied crop sequences and associations involving at least three different crops. Ensuring sustainable agriculture through the development of natural resources, aligning the agriculture development plan with the green economy development strategy coupled with expansion of irrigation are the major priorities of the agriculture sector.
Hence, by the end of the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II), a target is set to increase the amount of crop production by smallholder farmers from 270.3 million quintals in 2014/15 to 406 million quintals during the main harvest season Thus, every effort is put forth to bring about a significant shift in the performance of agricultural research centers to enable them meet international standards based on international benchmarking. Melkasa Agricultural Research Center is among the leading research institutions in the country working to improve product and productivity in a manner conserving and rehabilitating of natural resources, including soil.
Instilling Conservation Agriculture based Sustainable Intensification (CASI), therefore, is among the major contribution of the Center. It also works to expand such experiences among the farmers, agricultural experts and government organs to maintain a healthy agricultural practice. Center Director Bedru Beshir (PhD) said conservation asgriculture has gained credibility through boosting production and productivity in which farmers are witnessing changes genuinely.
CASI technologies and practices combine the principles of conservation agriculture and principles of improving agricultural productivity with less use of resources and pressure on the environment, resulting in the increase of productivity and sustainability. As to Bedru, he is also Country Coordinator for Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Easter and Southern Africa (SIMLESA), the effort involves promoting practices that minimizing tillage, crop rotations and intercrops, and maintaining soil cover using crop residues.
Positive role to increase production, soil moisture and save soil erosion, among others make CASI to gain attention with farmers throughout the country. “Soil erosion is a major problem limiting crop production and increasing the risk of famine in Ethiopia. The wearing a way of a topsoil of an estimated two billion meter cubic a year due to exhaustive tillage and mono-cropping that is destroying soil fertility limiting plant growth. Out of the nation’s total surface area just over half is agriculturally productive.
Over 60 million hectares of productive land an estimated 27 hectares are considered significantly eroded, 14 million hectares seriously eroded and two million have reached the point of no return,” he elaborated. Luckily, the farmers are practicing this mechanism after identified real differences from the conventional tillage system. While talking about the challenges, he said “free grazing, conventional/ traditional tillage, shortage of inputs and lack of awareness about CASI are the major challenges to implement CASI throughout the country.” Thus, establishing and/or enforcing grazing bylaws, broadening agricultural extension packages as well as promoting such organic means of natural resource conservation pays back, he noted.
Even if CASI is gaining attention with farmers and well mainstreamed across the country further measures are important to save soil productivity and sustain the sector’s contribution said SIMLESA Program Leader Mulugeta Mekuria (PhD). Currently, plus to half a million farmers practice conservation agriculture while the government is working to widen such experiences to the other farmers, he added.
Different agricultural research centers are also playing an important role in facilitating the country’s endeavors to boost production and productivity. And improving agricultural yields via conservation agriculture significantly improves farmers’ life, he noted. Institutionalizing new research driven mechanisms and directions is important to realize agricultural production and productivity.
And multi-stakeholders engagement is fundamental to maintain natural resource conservation such as soil. Since the issue of soil is a critical agenda of everyone all stakeholders should work hand in hand to rehabilitate soil resource and maintain smooth agricultural practice, the experts recommend.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 13/2019
BY TEWODROS KASSA
