Direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC) offer a promising approach for combating desertification. Conventional agricultural systems in desertification-prone regions are not very productive, diversified, or resilient to irregular rainfall. DMC aims to improve soil and water conservation through minimal tillage and seeding crops directly into mulch from the previous harvest. This helps increase infiltration, reduce evaporation, boost biomass production, and enhance agroecosystem resilience. Research shows DMC provides benefits to farmers through improved yields and environmental services to landscapes and communities. Widespread adoption of DMC and other sustainable agricultural practices is needed to stall land degradation in vulnerable regions.
Similaire à Combating desertification through direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC). Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD. Issue 4. 40 pp. (20)
UGC NET Paper 1 Mathematical Reasoning & Aptitude.pdf
Combating desertification through direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC). Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD. Issue 4. 40 pp.
1. Issue 4
Combating
desertification
through direct seeding
mulch-based
cropping systems
(DMC)
Comité Scientifique Français de la Désertification
French Scientific Committee on Desertification
3. Fo reword
M
Marc Bied-Charreton ankind is now confronted with an issue
Emeritus Professor of the University of Versailles of worldwide concern, i.e. desertification,
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) which is both a natural phenomenon and
Researcher at C3ED-JRU IRD/UVSQ a process induced by human activities.
(Centre of Economics and Ethics Our planet and natural ecosystems have never been so
for Environment and degraded by our presence. Long considered as a local
Development)
problem, desertification is now a global issue that affects
us all, including scientists, decision-makers, citizens from
both the South and North. Within this setting, it is urgent
to boost the awareness of civil society to convince it to get
involved. People must first be given the elements necessary
to better understand the desertification phenomenon and
the concerns. Everyone should have access to relevant
scientific knowledge in a readily understandable language
and format. Within this scope, the French Scientific
Committee on Desertification has decided to launch a
new series entitled “Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD”,
which is designed to provide sound scientific information
on desertification, its implications and stakes. This series
is intended for policy makers and advisers from the North
and South, in addition to the general public and scientific
journalists involved in development and the environment.
It also aims at providing teachers, trainers and trainees
with additional information on various associated fields.
Lastly, it endeavours to help disseminate knowledge on
the combat against desertification, land degradation,
and poverty to stakeholders such as representatives
of professional, non-governmental, and international
solidarity organisations.
A dozen reports are devoted to different themes such as
biodiversity, climate change, pastoralism, remote sensing,
etc., in order to take stock of current knowledge on these
various subjects. The goal is also to set out ideological
and new concept debates, including controversial issues;
to expound widely used methodologies and results
derived from a number of projects; and lastly to supply
operational and intellectual references, addresses and
useful websites.
These reports are to be broadly circulated, especially
within the countries most affected by desertification,
by e-mail (upon request), through our website, and
in print. Your feedback and suggestions will be much
appreciated! Editing, production and distribution of “Les
dossiers thématiques du CSFD” are fully supported by
this Committee thanks to the backing of relevant French
Ministries. The opinions expressed in these reports are
endorsed by the Committee.
Remote sensing, a support to the study and monitoring of the Earth environment 1
4. Preamble
Jean-Yves Grosclaude For decades, farmers in many regions have had to deal
Director of the Department with serious soil erosion problems—water erosion
of Rural Development, Environment during every rainfall, wind erosion, which blows away
and Natural Resources, the soil and generates dust clouds, with an impact that
French Development Agency (AFD) reaches far beyond the initial areas. Everyone remembers
the dust bowl process, which darkened the skies over the
grain fields of the Great Plains in USA and Canada during
the 1930s. Everyone also knows about the devastating
effects of erosion on the Loess Plateau in China.
Excessive tillage, scarce and poorly distributed water,
much of which is lost via runoff, has prompted research
on alternative cropping systems, designed especially to
stall erosion and runoff, promote rainwater infiltration
and offset climatic hazards.
In the 1960s, this gave rise to farming practices combining
two concepts: minimal tillage and direct seeding in
mulch of residue from the previous crop. This movement
started in USA, developed and gained momentum in
Brazil and then spread to Latin America and Australia.
It subsequently took root in Asia, Europe (including
France), and then Africa and Madagascar. Now more
than 90 million ha are cultivated without tillage and
direct seeding on mulch. In the 1980s, in the Brazilian
cerrados and small family farming areas, CIRAD and
its Brazilian partners managed to adapt direct seeding
principles for application in tropical farming conditions.
This has renewed the hopes of smallholders, for whom
the soil is a farming resource that has to be sustainably
preserved.
These new practices represent more than just a set of
techniques, they call for a real change of spirit, because
ploughing—a historical mainstay of agriculture—must
be abandoned. Research is currently under way,
especially in North Africa (Tunisia), sub-Saharan Africa
(Cameroon), Madagascar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
For almost 10 years, AFD (French Development Agency),
FGEF (French Global Environment Facility) and MAE
(French Ministry of Foreign Affaires) have been backing
the process of adaptation and dissemination of this
“sustainable agriculture”, within the framework of rural
development projects carried out under a range of
agroecological and socioeconomic conditions. This novel
agricultural approach brings a solution that is especially
suitable for farming in fragile ecosystems with a high risk
of desertification.
This 4th Dossier thématique du CSFD clearly showcases
direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems, including
the challenges, difficulties and prospects. I am sure
that many readers will be won over, since these new
systems represent a keystone for sustainable agricultural
development—preserving natural resources, which
nurture all rural activities in developing countries.
2 Combating desertification through direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC)
5. Table of Contents
4 30
New farming practices needed Four years of participative experiments
in regions affected by desertification with farmers on DMC cotton crops
in northern Cameroon
6
Soil and water in desertification conditions 36
DMC: a promising approach
14 for combating desertification?
DMC: an alternative to conventional cropping systems
in desertification-stricken countries
38
18 For further information...
DMC benefits for farmers
40
22 List of acronyms
Cumulative effects and services of DMCs and abbreviations
for landscapes and communities
Table of Contents 3
6. New farming practices
needed in regions affected
by desertification
D
esertification has a serious impact on water,
soils, biodiversity, agrarian systems,
and in turn on the people who live off the
services provided by agroecosystems.
Climate change has been worsening in the 21st century,
thus broadening the range of desertification, environ-
mental degradation processes in arid, semiarid
and subhumid-dry regions. Family farms in Southern
countries will have to adapt—technically, economically
and strategically—to be able to survive.
The soil is often the only capital that farmers have in
these regions, and this resource is essential to the func-
tioning and resilience of agroecosystems: it should
thus be preserved and enhanced. Water is a scarce and Current agricultural systems (combined with livestock
uncertain resource in countries affected by desertifica- farming) are not very productive or diversified, and crop
tion: most of it disappears via runoff and evaporation. It yields are highly irregular in semiarid and subhumid
should be preserved to benefit soil-plant systems, thus environments. Rural communities are barely able to
enhancing plant biomass production. live off these systems, so malnutrition and endemic
Glossary
Action research: Participative applied research involving or adverse change (in a scope and setting to be specified: for
development stakeholders and farmers. a soil, this could involve a loss of biodiversity and resilience,
leading to structural breakdown), in a soil or landform, of various
Agroecology: A current research and engineering stream of processes and a change in environmental conditions (climate,
thought and action whereby production systems and subsectors vegetation, water regime, humans, etc.) relative to the initial
are approached from a joint ecological and agricultural pers- genesis conditions.
pective to promote sustainable development and environmental
protection. Fertility: Ability of a soil to produce under its climate.
Agroecosystem: An ecosystem that is utilised for agri- Agrarian system: Spatial expression of the association
cultural production. of farmers and techniques implemented by a rural society to
fulfil its needs.
Biodiversity: Biological diversity, or biodiversity, refers to
the variety or variability of all living organisms. This includes Productivity: Potential ability of an organism (plant or ani-
genetic variability within species and their populations, the mal) to provide a certain amount of a specific product (whole
diversity of associated species complexes and their interactions, plants, fruit, seeds, fodder, fibre, oil, wood, milk, meat, wool,
and that of ecological processes they affect or with which they etc.) relative to a spatial or temporal unit.
are involved (IUCN definition, 1988).
Resilience: Ability of a system to withstand disturbances
Biomass: Total mass of living cells from a given site relative in its structure and/or functioning and, when these are over-
to the area or volume. come, to get back to a state that is comparable to the initial
situation (Ramade, 1993). In summary, it is the ability to buffer
Degradation: This term generally means “slow destruction” disturbances.
4 Combating desertification through direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC)
11. Fo cus
Nature and hydrologic function
of a Sudano-Sahelian soil T
P
A typical soil of Sudano-Sahelian regions in Africa (500-900
mm annual rainfall) or a “duplex soil” in Australia can be
represented by the following scheme: R E
Four successive soil horizons 0 cm I leached,
shallow
(or levels or materials) root horizon
• 0–25 cm: loamy sand horizon, which is leached and clear, RI
and where most roots are found. 25 episodic hypodermal
cm runoff discontinuity
• 25–80 cm: compact horizon, not very porous, hardsetting
and often dry sandy clay containing few roots. I I
• 80–500 cm: mottled sandy clay loam alterite, so-called
“loose plinthite”, moist, with a fluctuating water table.
hardsetting,
relatively
• 500–2000 cm: micaceous sandy clay, greenish-grey and
non-porous
plastic, embedded in the so-called “alterite” water table.
“dry” horizon
Below 2 m: sound bedrock, sometimes with a deep water table
in the cracks.
80
cm
Water flow mottled zone
In this kind of soil, rainwater percolates downward, while (loose plinthite)
moisture from the water table circulates upward. These two flows
are relatively independent and sometimes do not overlap:
• At the surface, precipitation (P) is dispersed via runoff (R), unused moisture
infiltration (I), lateral hypodermic runoff (RI) during the heaviest upward flowing
rainstorms, transpiration (T) and evaporation (E). The sum of (R) capillary fringe
and (RI) can represent up to 60% of the rainstorm water.
• In the deep horizons, there is generally an alterite water table
that saturates much of the micaceous sandy clay alteration zone,
often called “decayed rock”, which generally ranges from 10 500
to 30 m thick. This water table fluctuates from 2 to 10 m deep cm
“decayed
throughout the year, between the rainy and dry season.
rock”
alterite
The fluctuation fringe (in the rainy season) or capillary fringe water table
(in the dry season) is located just above the water table, thus
moistening the mottled clay alterite layer, or so-called “loose bedrock
plinthite” (as opposed to “indurated plinthite”, which is a
1000
ferruginous cap resulting from local hardening). cm
The horizon located at 25-80 cm depth consists of a material
that is generally unsuitable for water and roots. It is sandy clay, Hydric function of a typical soil in Sudano-Sahelian
regions where desertification is under way.
massive, not very porous, hardsetting, so there is very little water
percolation. The upward flowing capillary fringe is blocked at
E: Evaporation • I: Infiltration
the base for the same reasons. Consequently, the soil is humid P: Precipitation • R: Runoff
(even during the dry season) as of 80-100 cm depth. This RI: Hypodermic runoff
T: Transpiration
moisture therefore does not benefit the cultivated plants whose
roots are mostly in the 20-30 cm horizon, despite the fact that
they are regularly subjected to water stress in these regions.
Soil and water in desertification conditions 9
13. totally or partially, exposed to heavy rainfall and winds Another consequence of desertification is the forma-
(intense runoff, water and/or wind erosion) and heat tion of saline soils as a result of woodland clearing.
stress (which upsets the biological activity of the soil). Trees have deep roots so they can tap the capillary
In a vicious circle, these processes further accelerate fringe of the water table and maintain it in the deep
the deterioration and loss of biodiversity in the soil and horizons. Clearance of these trees and their deep roots
environment. by deforestation drives the moisture front upward to-
ward the surface. There is a risk of soil salinization if
There seems to be a threshold of degradation and de- the underlying material is mineralized. In such cases,
nudation (in a patchy or mosaic pattern) beyond which the soils are thus no longer suitable for cereal cropping,
the mechanisms change scale, accelerate and become etc. This is a very common phenomenon in Australia,
widespread. One of the most renowned examples of and on the Great Plains and prairies in North America.
this is the dust bowl that swept across grain fields It also occurs in Africa, but less frequently.
and blackened the sky, on the Great Plains in USA and
Canada in the 1930s. This was a combined result of
overuse of soils by dry farming (involving worked
summer fallows and bare fallows) and drought.
Fo cus
The dust bowl in USA,
a national disaster caused by excessive tillage
The dust bowl phenomenon that occurred on the semiarid (300- period in the 1930s. Dust clouds blackened the sky to as far
600 mm of rainfall) Midwestern Great Plains in the United States east as the Atlantic coast. These dust bowls were disastrous
is the most famous case of large-scale wind erosion due to soil and continued until the late 1940s, with a heavy social impact.
degradation. The dust bowl took place in the 1920s, 30s and In parallel, in the most humid eastern areas, large-scale water
40s following excessive use of dry farming practices involving erosion also occurred as a result of excessive tillage. The
biennial cereal-tilled fallows (so-called summer fallows) rotations. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA, and especially
The dust bowl was the setting of John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel the soil scientist H.H. Bennett) then founded the famous Soil
The Grapes of Wrath in which he described the misery and Conservation Service. In the Corn Belt and eastern Appalachian
migration of farmers affected by this catastrophic phenomenon. states, a large-scale programme was thus set up to implement
erosion control measures involving embankments, cropping
As of the 1920s, the advent of motorization and the increased in alternate strips along contour lines. Later mulch tillage and
power of tractors promoted repeated tillage of fields and led to direct seeding techniques were implemented. Questions were
an increase in the tilled area. 18-month fallowed fields were first also raised as to whether or not tillage was actually necessary,
burnt after harvesting and then systematically tilled (ploughing but no immediate measures were taken. Although very costly,
and pulverized). The land was thus laid bare so that it would soil protection and restoration measures were actually easier
be ready to absorb as much moisture as possible to be utilized to implement and more visible to the public eye than other
by the subsequent cereal crop, which was planted every other agronomic solutions.
year, with the dust or granular mulch created serving to reduce
evaporation. The second reason for burning crop residue and The suitability of tillage began being questioned in the 1930s,
repeated tillage was to regularly control water-consuming weeds especially in regions where dry farming prevailed. Farmers,
and clear the soil of pests and diseases. Finally, the last reason scientists (from the Universities of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma
put forward was to enhance the release of mineral nitrogen right and Texas) and USDA then initiated a programme to promote
after the cereal crops were sown. The merits of dry farming stubble mulch farming (currently mulch tillage), i.e. the use
have been constantly debated over the years. The experimental, of crop residue to protect the soil during fallows. The same
technical and economic results are often conflicting because of initiatives were taken in the Canadian prairie grain fields of
the extreme climatic variability in such regions. A difference of Alberta. Superficial (10 cm) cutting tools (blades, sweeps,
50 mm in rainfall during a season can indeed have a major rod-weeders, etc.) were thus invented to cut weed roots without
impact. substantially disturbing the mulch layer, which very effectively
protected the ground during the summer fallows. This was major
The use of this practice since the beginning of the 20th century progress, even revolutionary on the Great Plains, and was
induced severe wind erosion on these rich soils, and the followed by chemical fallows in the 1950s, and direct seeding
phenomenon accelerated at a surprising rate during the drought in the late 1960s.
Soil and water in desertification conditions 11
15. Glossary
Alterite water table: Free water contained in the large open Planosol: A soil characterized by the presence of a sudden
pores of thick water-saturated alteration materials in inter-tropical discontinuity at less than 50 cm depth, and not resulting of
regions, which can range from 5 to 30 m deep over a sound mechanical overlap of two materials. The surface horizon (20-50
substrate. This water table fluctuates markedly throughout the year cm thick) is often discoloured (light grey), more massive and sandy
(around 5-15 m). These water resources are tapped by villagers than the more clayey underlying material.
through wells to fulfil most of their water needs.
Plinthite: In inter-tropical soils, this is mottled kaolinic clay
Capillary fringe: Zone of upward water flow via capillary (beige, grey, rusty, red), which corresponds to the fluctuation
action above the water table. fringe of the alterite water table. The mottled colour is due to the
presence of iron oxide particles in the clays. When episodically
Dry farming: Highly mechanized agriculture in semiarid impregnated by the water table, the loose plinthite can harden
continental or Mediterranean environments (300-550 mm annual and form a cap or hardpan, thus creating what was formerly
rainfall). This generally involves cereal cropping, every other year, called “laterite”.
alternating with a bare fallow, tilled with superficial machinery to
control weeds and promote water storage for subsequent crops. Runoff: Flow of rainwater along the soil surface.
Dry farming was (and still is to some degree) practiced in the
Great Plains region of USA, on the Canadian prairies and in Sealing: Destruction, via rainwater (storms), of the surface
parts of Australia with a Mediterranean environment. The highly structure of the soil, which causes the formation of a continuous
negative impacts of these practices include wind and/or water shiny, fine-textured coating when saturated with water.
erosion because the ground remains bare for 18-21 consecutive
months. Sheet erosion: A type of erosion that involves regular
superficial removal of very fine soil particles due to moderate
Feedback loop: When a process “feeds back” on its cause, diffuse runoff.
thus enhancing this effect (positive feedback) or regulating it
(negative feedback). Soil structure: The way the solid, mineral and/or organic,
soil components (aggregated or not) are assembled. A structure is
Glacis: Slightly sloping plain (grade of less than a few degrees) “good” when there is suitable soil aeration, water percolation and
that is somewhat concave, rising upstream where it connects with root development.
the piedmonts of the dominant landforms.
Tropical ferruginous soil: Soil that occurs throughout
Kaolinite: Type of nonexpansive clay (no gross fissured Sahelian and Sudanian Africa. It is grey, beige or reddish in
structure) typical of well-drained, but poor, relatively acidic and colour, sandier at the surface than in the deeper layers, generally
fragile structured soils of inter-tropical regions. massive, compact and not very porous below 30 cm depth. It
connects with a mottled clay zone below 1 m depth, where
Leaching: Slow water percolation through the soil, accompanied fluctuation of the alterite water table may occur.
by dissolution of solid materials within the soil.
Vertisol: A very clayey dark-grey to olive coloured soil formed
Perched water table: Small episodic water table located in by expansive montmorillonite clays. They swell and close up in
the superficial soil layers (e.g. a planosol or tropical ferruginous the rainy season, while they shrink markedly (large cracks) in the
soil). It is located in porous material with an underlying clay dry season. These soils are found in low areas (lowlands, plains,
horizon. It is supplied by rainfall that cannot percolate to the deep piedmonts) and on so-called “basic” rock (dark coloured).
horizons. This is also called hypodermic runoff or flow.
Soil and water in desertification conditions 13
16. DMC: an alternative
to conventional cropping
systems in desertification-
stricken countries
W
ater is a scarce and uncertain resource
in areas affected by desertification, but
a large quantity is lost or unusable, i.e.
it runs off on the surface and cannot be
reached by crop plant roots in the deep horizons. This
leads to the following contradiction in areas where de-
sertification is under way: there is not sufficient water
in some places (cropping areas) through which it tran-
sits and just remains for a very short amount of time,
whereas excessive volumes of water may suddenly
hit other places (channels and lower parts of glacis)
within the same area and remain there for a long time.
In both of these settings, cultivated ecosystems are
disadvantaged and limited, or even condemned, by the
unfavourable water and hydrological regimes.
1
Alternative cropping practices needed
Extreme climatic events are common in desertification-
prone areas. Agricultural management schemes de-
signed to buffer such harsh conditions are especially
necessary. Do small farming families have any soil and
crop management alternatives that would enable them These objectives can be fulfilled in cropping areas by
to survive under or bypass such unfavourable condi- applying the following principles:
tions? Suitable alternative cropping practices should
meet the following objectives: • Establishing a permanent mulch cover to protect
the soil (to control erosion, runoff, evaporation, high
• Attenuate erosion and reduce runoff to promote infil- temperatures, etc.), thus preserving the moisture
tration by creating favourable soil surface conditions; content and offsetting climatic hazards. This cover
• Facilitate access of plant root systems to deep —via mineralization and humification (forming a
moisture; humus layer)—recycles minerals and boosts soil
• Cushion the effects of climatic hazards during crop- carbon stocks, therefore improving the soil struc-
ping seasons and between years; ture.
• Enhance the resilience of new cropping systems to • Not tilling the soil so as to enable it to restructure
offset climatic hazards; itself via biomass input and to slow down the rate of
• Have socioeconomic impacts that will benefit farmers humified organic matter mineralization.
in the short-to-medium term, and the whole com- • Decompacting clogged soil layers (20-40 to 80-
munity within the local region, thus providing them 100 cm depth) by, for instance, growing cover
with an incentive to adopt the alternative cropping plants with strong root systems, especially grasses
practices. (Brachiaria sp., Eleusine coracana, sorghum, etc.)
14 Combating desertification through direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC)
19. Focus
Brief historical review: no-till farming to DMC
The no-till farming concept was first developed and implemented CIRAD is now largely responsible for the incredible expansion of
in the field (90 million ha worldwide in 2005) in non-tropical DMCs in the cerrados, with almost 10 million ha under this system
areas—first in the United States as of the 1960s, then in subtropical in 2005 (as compared to 20,000 ha in 1992). This is clear
southern Brazil, Australia, Argentina and Canada as of the 1970s. evidence that these systems are very attractive from an economic
In these areas, many of which are under semiarid temperate or standpoint. It has now been demonstrated, with matching results
Mediterranean climates, groups of pioneering farmers who were obtained in the field, that DMC is applicable in intertropical
aware that their lands were permanently degraded by erosion regions thanks to these new technologies and specific tropical
decided, along with the public and private research sector, to agronomic methods (but the scope of possibilities has yet to
develop new innovative agricultural production strategies. be extensively explored)—to produce better, more sustainably
and cost-effectively, while eliminating erosion and improving
This movement has been continuously expanding in these the soil quality. CIRAD and partners have developed these
countries (25 million ha in USA, 24 million ha in Brazil, 10 million technologies through adaptive research strategies based on key
ha in Australia and 12 million ha in Canada in 2005), through the agroecological principles without tillage, and oriented towards
development of new tools (especially specific seeding implements) poor small-scale agriculture, or conditions requiring various
and constant technical progress. However, until the early 1980s, levels of intensification, in all ecological conditions that occur in
little research had been conducted on this topic in tropical areas, hot areas throughout the world (Brazil, Madagascar, Réunion,
where soils are more fragile and climatic conditions are harsher. Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Cameroon, Gabon, Mexico, Vietnam, Laos,
As of 1983, first in large-scale mechanized farms in the Brazilian Tunisia, etc.).
cerrados region (humid savannas), and then on smallholdings in
partner countries of the South, CIRAD (coordinated by Lucien The specific features of DMCs will obviously differ under
Séguy) succeeded in adapting and implementing the DMC different conditions, depending on the human, economic and
concept on a large scale. This represented a remarkable change physical setting that prevails. Adaptive research must therefore
in strategy in tropical regions, and a major challenge because be geared towards developing suitable cropping systems with
of the soil-climate conditions and rapid mineralization of organic the participation of local farmers.
matter.
Distribution of large areas (ha)
under DMC worldwide (2005)
Source: World Congress on Conservation
Agriculture (Nairobi, 2005)
DMC: an alternative to conventional cropping systems in desertification-stricken countries 17
20. DMC benefits
for farmers
D
MCs can benefit farmers in many
ways (plot and farm levels) that can be
measured in the short to medium term:
agricultural, environmental and economic impacts.
Multiple agricultural benefits...
Permanent plant-based soil cover has different agricul-
tural functions:
• Protection of the soil against water erosion through
the creation of a barrier to offset the force of rain
drops hitting the soil.
• Increased infiltration by not tilling the soil. Note that
ploughing causes the formation of a “tillage pan”
that hampers root growth and water percolation.
Moreover, the action of roots and bioactivity in the 1
soil improve the physical properties of cropped soil
(especially porosity) and thus water infiltration.
• Reduction of evaporation by plant cover and mulch,
thus reducing capillary upwelling.
• Reduction of soil temperature variations: plant cover
buffers thermal extremes.
• Utilization of deep humidity: roots of the “crop plant-
vegetation cover” unit gain access to deeper water
reserves because of the enhanced physical properties
of the soil.
• Creation of an environment that improves bioacti- • Enhancement of livestock nutrition: the vegeta-
vity: input of supplementary biomass to serve as a tion cover can often be grazed by livestock in the
nutritional substrate, physical and water improvement between-crop interval.
of the soil and thermal buffering are favourable to the
activity of bacteria, fungi and fauna (earthworms, Cover plants are partially chosen for their strong root
ants, arthropods, collembola, insect larva, etc.). systems that “shatter” the soil and trigger bioactivity.
• Weed control: the vegetation cover stalls weed ger- This improves the efficacy of water and nutrient use,
mination via canopy shade and often its allelopathic and thus harvest volumes and regularity.
properties (antagonistic biochemical secretions).
• Increased organic matter content in the soil (basis Some efficient cover plants include grasses (genera
of soil fertility): biomass input (above- and below- Brachiaria, Chloris, Panicum, Sorghum, etc.) and
ground) enables sustainable carbon fixation in the leguminous plants (genera Macroptilium, Stylosanthes,
soil by humification, thus indirectly contributing to Mucuna, Crotolaria, Cajanus, etc.). However, cover
controlling the greenhouse effect. plants can potentially be degraded by fires, grazing
• Enhancement of crop plant nutrition: slow herds, and sometimes termites (in Africa).
mineralization of fresh biomass throughout the
year by upwelling of minerals from deep horizons These drawbacks can be overcome by changing
(recycling) continuously nourishes crops and redu- scale, from the farm to the agrarian region, with
ces the need for supplementary fertilizer applications. collective farms involving rational resource use,
18 Combating desertification through direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC)