Raj Gupta A Presentation for Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID)

1. ICARDA Experience on Conservation Agriculture :
Applications and Lessons Learned
Raj Gupta
A Presentation for
Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID)
Sunday, March 16, 2008

2. Characteristic Features of WANA Region
WANA region- total area of ~1,853 million ha
Population- 725 million people, still increasing
Nearly 52% of the people depend on agriculture
Nearly 40% of the land, used in agriculture
Agriculture contributes around 20% to GDP of the region
Large acreage of arable drylands- degraded, low crop yields
Farming systems evolved to cope with natural & economic constraints
Livestock– a major component of the farming system.

3. Key NRM Constraints
• Land (soil & water) degradation Tel Hadya groundwater level (m below ground), 1983-2007
-60.0
• Wind and water erosion Jun-83 Nov-85 Apr-88 Sep-90 Mar-93 Aug-95 Jan-98 Jun-00 Nov-02 May-05 Oct-07
• Salinization
-70.0
• Low and declining soil fertility
• Water scarcity - competing end-uses,
water table declines @ > meter/ year -80.0
• Climate change and acute variability
-90.0
Need technologies that are -100.0
economically viable, socially
acceptable and environmentally
sound to improve production and -110.0
productivity.
-120.0

4. ICARDA’s Strategic Vision
Employment
generation
Conservation agriculture / RCTs
should be a vital component of
Resource
Livelihoods
conservation
the strategy for food security
and poverty alleviation, health
for all, rural development,
enhancing productivity, improve
Conservation environmental quality and
Agriculture
Food / RCT
preserve natural resources.
security Environmental
quality
RCTs / CA is also a strategy
to mitigate and adapt to
climate change
Rural Diversification /
development Biodiversity

5. From Issues to Actions
Timely crop establishment → Reduce tillage /CA
Water scarcity →Improve WP,
Conjunctive use
Low seed replacement of MV →Seed Villages
Dryland degradation →Manage. Practices
Low fodder availability →Diversification, New Planters
& livestock productivity Improve livelihoods
rural livelihoods
Innovation systems → Use of Mass media Laser leveled field- uniform application
(HRD & Awareness) Technology targeting
• Enabling policies an overarching issue

6. Generic Elements of Conservation Agriculture?
• Significant reduction in tillage
• Retention of crop residues on
soil surface
• Reduce compaction, and
• Economically feasible,
diversified crop rotations
Surface covers: Residues Above elements are not site
• Reduce weeds specific, Represent unvarying
• Reduce evaporation loss of water
objectives that extend CA
• Moderate soil temperature
• Improve fertility and biological tillage
technologies efficiently
across production conditions.
Thus, conservation agriculture need some paradigm shifts

7. Zero-till / Reduced-Till acreage in South Asia
Zero-Till Wheat
3244
3200
2800
2400
Area (' 000 ha)
2000 2104
1600
1200
1100
• Global estimates of CA~ 90 Mha
800
• Nearly 60% wheat and rice- direct
400 371 seeded in Central Asia.
2 5 20
0 130
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006
World Bank estimated a saving of US$147Million through ZT in 2005 alone in SA

8. ZT impact scenarios
Conservative Optimistic
scenario scenario
Net present value 26 55
(NPV, Mln. USD, 1994)
Benefit/Cost ratio 3.3 6.9
Internal rate of return 31% 46%
(IRR)
A little longer term investment in Farmer
Participatory Research by USAID stimulated
adoption of CA in South Asia +R -R
Source: Olaf Erenstein et al. (2005)

9. ICARDA Experiences on CA in Dry Areas- (contd.)
Surface seeding (W into C and R into W)
ZT and Raised-bed planting with Multi-crop seeder/
planters – saves seed and improve -NUE
Laser assisted precision land leveling- saves water
Fertilizer management in presence of residues.
Technologies for generating additional residues. (conflict
for crop residues: Mulch vs. Livestock)
New niches for intensification/ diversification Relay Wheat crop in cotton
- Cereal based systems
- Agri-horti/ systems
- Range lands
Management of saline environments
Conjunctive use of low quality waters
- Salt leaching, crop production
GIS and Remote Sensing tools- Technology targeting
Multicrop planter

10. Planting Wheat ( surface seeding) into Standing Cotton in Central Asia
Countries Wheat Area Wheat planted Percentage of
(ha) into standing wheat planted
cotton (ha) into standing
cotton (%)
Tajikistan 320,000 96,000 30%
Turkmenistan 900,000 360,000 40%
Uzbekistan 1,400,000 840,000 60%
Total 2,620,000 1,296,000 49%
• No Yield Penalties
• Saves USD 23.3 Million annually in fuel @ 18USD/ ha. Labor saving not counted
• Gains can be pushed-up further if machinery constraints are relaxed
(saves seed, land leveling, band placement of fertilizers)
• Benefit-cost ratio ( 2 to 2.97) increased with moisture supplies
Sources: FAOSTAT, 2006, Ministries of Agriculture of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

11. Benefit Cost ratios of Direct Seeding wheat vs Traditional Planting
Sub-humid Semi-arid Arid
Years Traditional Direct Traditional Direct Traditional Direct
2004-06 Planting Seeding Planting Seeding Planting Seeding
Average 2.03 2.93 1.93 2.50 1.73 2.10
• Benefit-cost ration improve with moisture availability
Krasniy Vodopad, Kazakhstan 2004- 2007

12. Traditional Rice Culture: Some shifts
• Wet cultivation (puddling)
• Transplanting young seedlings
• Reduces deep percolation &
ground water recharge
• Destroys soil structure and
create a plow pan layer

13. New Rice Establishment Methods & Brown Manuring of Rice and Wheat
Un-Puddled Transplanted Rice
DSR rice + Sesbania
- Better ground water recharge DSR a common practice in central Asia
• Saves nearly 25-40 cm water/ha
1
2
Co-cultured- Sesbania + wheat crop
Sesbania seeding Brown Manuring
DSR •with Controlled Traffic
Reduce weed by 50%
• No second flush weeds
• N saved ~ 15kg/ha
• No additional need for water
Sesbania after wheat harvest
- Mulching & N fixation
5 4 3

14. Experiences: Precision laser Land leveling
• More than 700 laser units in Pakistan,
India (with farmers), (100,000ha)
• Recently introduced this technology
in Central Asia
• Provides employment to 4 persons for
130-165 days annually
• Saves nearly 20cm-ha water in RW 20.0
w ater savin g , h a_cm s
Rice Average Wheat Average
which can additionally irrigate 2%area 15 . 0
10 . 0
• No weed in first year.
5.0
• Better crop establishment & Yields 0.0
1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71
• More than 100mm-cut reduce yields Number of Farmers

15. Experiences: Conjunctive use of multi-quality
waters
Yield of crops using water of different quality
100 100 100 100
100 93
80 68 70
Yield, %
60 51
47
40
20
0
Seasame Maize Cotton
Irrigation with fresh water Conjunctive irrigation
Golodnaya steppe, Uzbekistan Irrigation with drainage water
• Nearly 32% water used for irrigation, brackish in South Asia
• Use of low quality water for salt leaching and meet crop water demands
• Use of salt tolerance crops according to their ratings (crops, grasses and tree species)

16. Experiences: Managing Saline/ Sodic Environments
Wheat on raised beds in Sodic lands
Wheat planted in furrows & Saline Irrigation
• Reclamation of Na or Mg-saturated soils

17. Additional Fodders for Livestock
Ongoing Efforts
Dual purpose winter / spring wheat:
(green fodder/ grain) to meet fodder
shortages
Green Fodder with ~ 30% Protein: Yields:
5-10t/ha
Screening genotypes suited to zero till,
raised bed planting, surface seeding and
drought and cold tolerance etc.

18. Fodder Production for Livestock
On-going Efforts;
New fodder crop introductions
Pearl-millet, Green-gram Sorghum, Cowpea,,
Maize, Dual purpose wheat, and Cactus etc.
Evaluation of grasses and forage legumes
Cenchrus ciliaris
Agropyron desertorum,
Dactylis glomerata,
Bromus inermis,
Elymus junceus,
Festuca arundinacea,
Kochia prostrata,
Onobrydis viciifolia, Trifolium, Medicago,
Alhagi pseudo-alhagi, Avena sativa, Vicia
sativa, etc.

19. Rangeland Management in Dry Areas
Rangelands ( Open, Closed and CPR)
On-Going Efforts
– Integration of tree-crop-livestock systems in watershed
approaches
(small ruminants and large animal, flock structures, Issues
of Rotational grazing systems etc- such as Social
consequences, conflicts? Agreements?
– Alley cropping technique on CA platforms. Types of
Multiple use trees
– Rainwater harvesting and conservation in rangelands
(e.g. Vallerani, vertical mulches,)
- Reseeding techniques and how to populate legumes, P
fertilization ??
Range lands good potential for Carbon sequestration

20. Appropriate Crop Cultivars
Weed competitive, stable cultivars
Chickpea Cold Screening Nursery
• Genotypes- cold and drought tolerance
• Bio-fortified- Iron, Zinc etc.
• Stable cultivars- also competitive with weeds

21. Experiences: Alternate Sources of Productivity Growth
Sugarcane +Wheat/ Wheat+ Mint
Chickpea/ Additional Income of $400/ha
Rapeseed
Maize + Cowpea/
Mungbean

22. Seed Village experiences
Seed Systems
Formal Seed System
Informal Seed System
Processing & storage Unit
Nucleus seed
Farmer participatory -
100%
Breeder seed
Farmer participatory
Foundation seed I&II 75%
Certified Seed I&II Farmer participatory
75%
Farmers- commercial
cultivation

23. Seed Priming Technologies
Gaucho Treated, Untreated

24. Land Reclamation and Rehabilitation
• Phospho -gypsum Technology
• Efficient salt leaching-use of saline water
• Micro-catchments- Vallerani in West Asia and
North Africa
• Integrated watershed management
Machinery
Conservation Measures
Manual
Alleys

25. Phyto-remediation of degraded drylands
• Cactus restoring degraded
rangelands in CWANA
• Leafy vegetables – women’s groups
reclaiming lateritized soils in SSA
• Drip irrigation in Sahel: Date Palm
• Dryland saline seeps: Bio-drainage
1 (Tree-grass combinations)
Control of saline seeps 4
2 3 (Bio-drainage)

26. Experiences of CA on sloping lands
CA for sloping lands in Central Asia
Up-down cultivation with controlled
traffic on sloping lands ( <10%
slopes)
Rationale use of slopes
- Low water users on the ridge and
others in middle and valleys
In situ decomposition of residues in
traffic lanes for nutrient recycling and
conserve soil
Combination of vegetative gully plugs
and mechanical measures

27. Experiences on CA in
On-going Efforts: Agri-horti
systems
Control of irrigation-induced soil
erosion: Portable chutes
Tree –crop compatibility
(Diversification- New niches)

29. Socio-economics & Policy Constraints in Adoption of CA
• Rigid policies do not allow co-cultures (e.g legumes in cotton or wheat
in Central Asia) on RCT platforms
• Fields must be plowed before cotton cultivation ( Central Asia)
• Zero-till cultivation of may be possible but fear of wind erosion in Badia
region, not allowed?
• Farmers do not buy new machines without prior experimentation for few
crop seasons
• Planters not available in sufficient numbers for farmer to experiment

30. Optical Sensor Technologies
670nm red • Plan N management as per crop demands
780nm NIR (saves 13-20% fertilizer N)
• Provides in-season yield / biomass
estimates (INSEY), well before crop harvests
• Facilitates early integrated assessments of
agronomic/land water interventions on soil
quality.

31. Enabling commonalities for Promoting CA Experiences in WANA:
From Central and South Asia Regions
NVRS : Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen
West Asia : Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Iraq,
Lebanon, Palestine
Arabian Pen: Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, S.Arabia,
UAE, Bahrain
North Africa : Algeria, Libya, Morocco,
Tunisia, Mauritania
NVRS West Asia Arabian North Central South Asia
Peninsula Africa Asia
Crops Fruit trees, S millets, Arid Wheat, Cereals Rice, wheat,
cotton, wheat, legumes Horticulture Barley, Rice, pulses,
rice, Clover, vegetables forages Cotton maize
Maize, Pulses Pulses, Hort Pulses
Climate/ Mediterranean Hot dry arid Hot dry arid Semiarid Arid to Monsoonal
Rainfall 50-500 mm 150-450mm <150mm 100- 450mm Semiarid Semi-arid
mm 150-450mm 400-750mm
Soils/ Alluvial, Loess, sandy Sandy loess Alluvial Alluvial Alluvial
Production •Cereal •Agri-horti- Agri-horti- Cereal Cereal, Cereal
systems •Agro-Pastoral pastoral Pastoral Agro- Agri-horti, systems
•Cereals pastoral Pastoral
Irrigation Canal + GW GW GW GW+ Canal Canal Canal+ GW
Strategies I/ SI WH/SI WH/SI I/WH/SI I/SI I( WH Pak)
–Improve
WP

32. Human Resource Development
Multi-country Traveling Seminar -
Zero-till wheat in controlled traffic plots
Tram-lines used
for Irrigation &
other operations

33. Initial Successes in the WANA Region
• Zero tillage technology: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria,
Syria, Turkey and Libya
• Turkey: CA machinery available in the region, need
some changes locally, and farmers to experiment with.
Watershed management (Vallerani WA & Vallerani NA)
Watershed management, Tunisia
Rooftop water harvesting ( Pakistan)
Would need some integration in context of CA

34. Lessons Learnt
Green Revolution Technologies CA Technologies
• Investments ( irrigation, fertilizer plants, • Investments mainly come from farmers
seed and Institutions etc.) came mainly and private sector.
from Public sector.
• Bypassed the farmers with poor socio- • RCT are scale neutral, flexible and
economic endowments and those located ‘divisible’ in applications, serves all
in marginal environments production environments
• Ag. Machinery was mainly to prepare fine • New prototypes planters/ lasers needed
seed beds. in good nos. for farmers to experiment
• Excessive tillage lead to decline in soil • Help accumulate carbon stocks, restore
carbon stocks soil quality
• Increasing fuel prices, eat into farmer • Hike in fuel costs tilt scales / promotes
profits CA, Immediately benefits the farmers
• Subsidies - on water and fertilizers • ‘Green-box’ support needed urgently for
clean agriculture
• No big re-orientation in research/ • Need new orientation for teaching,
extension system was needed research and extension

35. Resource Conserving Technologies/ CA
• Timely sowing • Better crop stands
• Higher yields • Lower costs
• Better nutrient and water • Less water pollution, less
use efficiency ground water mining
• More diverse rotations • Fewer weeds and pests
• Less use of fossil fuel • Reduced cost &CO2emission
• Prevent residue burning • More C sequestration and
better soil health

36. THANKS

37. Experiences on Brown Manuring in DSR Rice and Wheat
Sesbania seeding
Sesbania after wheat harvest
- Mulching & N fixation
No additional irrigation water needed, ~ 50% less weeds,
Supply 15-20Kg N, Controls second flush of weeds