91710 Exchanging Experience with Conservation Agriculture Towards Climate Resilience Authors: LI Hongwen, XIE Mei, HE Jin Assisted by: HUAN Yu Art drawing: JIANG Heping 图书在版编目(CIP)数据 保护性耕作经验交流 - 应对气候变化:英文 / 李洪文,谢玫,何进著;蒋和平绘 . —北京:科学普及出版社 , 2014.8 ISBN 978-7-110-08724-4 Acknowledgements  Ⅰ . ①保… Ⅱ . ①李… ②谢… ③何… ④蒋… Ⅲ . ①资源保护-土壤耕作-英文 Ⅳ . ① S341 Technical and Language Editor: William CRITCHLEY 中国版本图书馆 CIP 数据核字 (2014) 第 172830 号 Special thanks to the following experts for their contributions during peer review : Saidi MKOMWA, Patrice DJAMEN, Peter KURIA (African Conservation Tillage Network); Martin SISHEKANU; Sandra CORSI. 策划编辑 吕建华 许英 责任编辑 赵晖 杨丽 Thanks also go to Mayya REVZINA (World Bank Publishing 责任校对 何士如 & Knowledge Unit); WU Yuehua and LI Sheng (World Bank 封面设计 蒋和平 责任印制 李春利 Institute), who helped prepare the publication of this book. 出 版 科学普及出版社 发 行 科学普及出版社发行部 Funding support for this publication: TerrAfrica program and 地 址 北京市海淀区中关村南大街 16 号 Climate Change Group of the World Bank. 邮 编 100081 发行电话 010-62173865 传 真 010-62179148 投稿电话 010-62176522 网 址 http://www.cspbooks.com.cn 开 本 889mm×1194mm 1/24 字 数 20 千字 印 张 2.25 版 次 2014 年 8 月第 1 版 印 次 2014 年 8 月第 1 次印刷 印 刷 北京盛通印刷股份有限公司 书 号 978-7-110-08724-4/S·548 定 价 20.00 元 The conservation agriculture technology won four national scientific and technological awards in China, and is among Hello, My name is Maria. the key areas of technological innovation in agriculture that I work at the Ministry of the government is promoting domestically. Agriculture. I’m looking forward to hearing about China’s experience, and bringing it back to Africa. Exchanging Experience with Conservation Agriculture Towards Climate Resilience Copyright © 2014 by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank   The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent.   The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The Pleased to meet you! I am boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any Amos and I’m a farmer. I won territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. a farming prize to visit China! I wonder how Chinese farmers Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages manage to increase crop dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. production. And I am excited to Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World climb the Great Wall. Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. 1 I hear that you are having a bad drought. But Well, my “trick” My name is Li Thank you It is our I see that your crops are is conservation Long. Welcome for inviting pleasure doing very well. What is agriculture. to my farm. us! to meet you, your trick? Mr. Li. 2 3 Conservation agriculture? 1.No plow, 2. Cover I ’ v e h e a r d a b o u t i t . I t ’s no till the soil reported to be a common p ra c t i c e n o w i n t h e U SA and Brazil, and is spreading within Latin America and to Central Asia. 3. Rotate crops from year to year Did you say "conservation agriculture"? I’ve seen it It is a new way of growing in Zambia. Tell us more crops that saves labor and about it. makes the land healthy. Three important things…. 4 5 Soil erosion How have you is a big benefited from this problem in new way of farming? In a lot of ways! First, our region …. less soil erosion in my field. Remember point 1, “Don’t plow”? Plowed fields without vegetation cover get easily eroded by wind and water. Erosion by wind Yes, you often see earth- colored water running Erosion by water off farm lands. 6 7 I heard about the "Great Dust Bowl" of the last century in the US. That was No plow? How do because of plowing large fields year you sow seeds? I after year. To address this problem, use a disc plow to the US started no-till. loosen the soil …. We also have bad dust storm Not even an animal- problems, and they affect cities drawn plow? too. Soil erosion used to be my headache. That was partially why I decided to stop plowing. 8 9 Plowing creates a Li Long, in our region, when heavy tropical Plowing reduces rains hit bare soil, the runoff washes away hard plough pan water infiltration and topsoil. Can conservation agriculture help? moisture holding Plowing disturbs soil organisms Actually, we say: “The deeper you plow, the more you lose!” Yes! Remember the second point of conservation agriculture? Plowing exposes “Cover the field” organic matter, releases greenhouse gases 10 11 … and when soil Right, Amos. is covered with Under conservation residues, the agriculture, I leave surface wind speed crop residues in the is slowed down. field to cover bare soil after harvesting. So, runoff and evaporation are both reduced. … it reduces soil blown from farmland too. I see … more moisture is kept in the soil for crops to grow. It helps during dry spells or droughts. 12 13 Li Long, what about crop rotation, your At home, I burn crop third point? residues. It clears the field, and makes it look tidy before planting. Legumes/ cover crop – for nutrients Grain crops Oh, no. I used to do so – for food too. But no more! Under security conservation agriculture, you don’t burn residues. Burning Cash crops crop residues is like burning – for income, your fertilizer. resilience Also, burning releases It is growing crops in sequence, greenhouse gases, and taking advantage of their smoke pollutes the air. different agronomical features. 14 15 For me, after wheat harvest, I directly seed maize with no- till. Sometimes, I add a legume crop to improve soil nutrients and control pests. Combine Harvester What about farmers in Chopping Zambia, Amos? Direct seeding Some farmers grow a cereal crop, followed by a cash crop like cotton…then, a legume crop, such as beans. In Africa, farmers often use crop association through intercropping rather than crop rotation. 16 17 What crops work well under Some innovative farmers practice agroforestry, conservation using faidherbia trees in croplands. They call them agriculture? fertilizer trees, whose nitrogen-rich leaves drop on the ground during the cropping season, enriching soil, and making crops stronger. You can use it for most crops. I grow maize, wheat, groundnuts, soybeans, and even rice. That is so interesting and innovative. 18 19 Li Long, this is all wonderful. Now let us get to specifics. What do you advise me to Straw begin with if I want to do management conservation agriculture? Well, you should begin at I cut the upper half of my harvest. Either you harvest What if we need maize crop for livestock, your crops manually or crop residues to feed leaving the lower half on by machine, leave 20 cm livestock? How do you the ground. I also started to height of residue on the manage it? grow a fodder crop this year. ground. 20 cm 20 21 The more, the better. If you don’t have enough, How much you should at least cover residue should I 30% of the field. Distribute leave in the field? the residues evenly. Does conservation agriculture require special seeds? No. I use undamaged seeds with a high germination rate. I pre-mix them with chemicals against pests and diseases. 22 23 Walking Bike planter tractor seeders tractor seeders Jab planter Li Seeder How do you seed if you don’t plow? Wouldn’t the You can use no-till ground be too seeders like these. hard to sow? Over time, mulching makes the soil soft to work with. 24 25 How do you control weeds if you don’t plow? How do you deal with pests and diseases, with all the straw on the ground? Yo u c a n w e e d b y h a n d , I spray pesticide. But herbicide or machine. You best to use integrated should control weeds before pest management they set seed, so weeds measures. become less of a problem over time. 26 27 I hear conservation agriculture could increase manual labor input. But you said it reduced labor input. How? I can get 7 tons per hectare of maize, 4. Seeding Can you ensure higher than the good crop yield? conventional method. I used to do four 3. Leveling, operations. Now I do pressing only two. Big savings! 2. Plow I see … Lower input costs, higher yields, 1. Harvest & these lead to increased income! chopping 28 29 Village meeting Li Long, was it easy We farmers can be for you to switch climate-smart. Healthy to conservation Conservation land and sustained agriculture ? agriculture stores production make us carbon in soils, better prepared for and reduces GHG climate change. emissions. It is Farmers climate-smart. touring Absolutely! It has been a learning process. I learnt it from these sources…. Radio, TV 30 31 Pleased to meet you. Now, China has 6 million ha under conservation agriculture. Our Hmmm… It is government has supported it best to talk to our in 4 ways …. extension officer, Ms. Jiang Ying. 1. Demonstration in areas with potential to scale up 2. Incentives to the private sector for manufacturing affordable machinery 3. Subsidy on CA machinery 4. Research and training Li Long, how does government support conservation agriculture? 32 33 Can you explain more This tractor about machinery? mounted chisel ripper opens shallow planting furrows. First look at this seeder, specially designed for no- till. It does everything in one operation. It has also anti- blocking, stubble breaking, and depth control functions. back-filling, This is a combine harvester with pressing residue chopper. It spreads straw evenly on the fields as it harvests. ripping seeding fertilizing 34 35 Farmers burn residues It seems that the scaling up of conservation agriculture in China benefited a lot from innovative Soil moisture mechanization, right? is a constraint Indeed, it is a key for me to Right. Innovation switch to this new in agricultural farming practice. mechanization Where does conservation has helped a lot. agriculture work well? Labor is short Here, we found that it works more effectively in regions where 1. Soil moisture is a constraint. 2. Farmers have surplus residues or burn them to clean ground. 3. Labor is short. 36 37 I have seen how conservation agriculture works in China. It can help us feed our families and raise income, while Today has reducing soil erosion and Seeing is climate change impact! been believing. I wonderful. will share what I learnt with our farmers. Thank you, Li. I hope one day I can visit your countries. Please join us for dinner, taste our local food produced by conservation agriculture! 38 39 Photos relating to conservation agriculture Dear colleagues, Conservation agriculture can help address issues of productivity, land degradation and climate resilience. Our government should support extension, farmer learning and agricultural mechanization. Conservation agriculture pays – I have seen it Photo: LI Hongwen Photo: LI Hongwen in China. China – No-till wheat seeder China – No-till maize seeder in maize residue field in wheat residue field Photo: LI Hongwen China – Two row no-till maize seeder 40 41 Conservation Conventional agriculture field agriculture field Photo: LI Hongwen Photo: LI Hongwen China – No-till direct seeder China – No-till maize seeder driven by two-wheel tractor with herbicide sprayers Photo: LI Hongwen China – After rain, no logging in CA field Using conservation Using conventional agriculture agriculture Photo: LI Yan Photo: LI Yan Photo: LI Hongwen China – Jab planter China – Li Seeder China – Comparison of crop growth 42 43 Photo: LI Hongwen Photo: Peter Kuria Photo: Peter Kuria China – No-till maize field after the first crop (left). Kenya – Maize intercropping Kenya – Pigeon pea Second maize crop in the same field (right) with dolichos lablab after the maize harvest Photo: LI Hongwen Photo: XIE Mei Photo: Patrice Djamen Zambia – Faidherbia trees Burkina Faso – Millet China – No-till sowed wheat in maize field (GART) intercropping with cowpea in the maize residue field 44 45 Dr. LI Hongwen is Professor of Agriculture and Changjiang Scholar at China Agricultural University. He is the Head of the Conservation Tillage Research Center at the Ministry of Agriculture, and Chairman of the Agricultural Mechanization Committee of the China Society of Agricultural Engineering. He has over 20 years of research experience in conservation agriculture. He has published over 180 papers, received 70 patents, and won three times second prize of the National Award for Technical Advancement for his work on conservation tillage. Email: lhwen@cau.edu.cn Dr. XIE Mei is Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist at the Climate Change Group of the World Bank. She has over 20 years of development experience in sustainable land and water management, and worked in regions of South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. While at the World Bank Institute, she was program leader for climate-smart agriculture, and led to produce a series of learning products and global eCourses relating to sustainable land management. Email: mxie@worldbank.org   Dr. HE Jin is Associate Professor of Agricultural Engineering at China Agricultural University. His research focuses on agricultural machinery design, residue management, conservation tillage, and soil protection. He has published dozens of papers, and has won second prize for the National Award for Technical Advancement on Conservation Tillage in China. Email: hejin@cau.edu.cn   Ms. HUAN Yu is Consultant at the Climate Change Group of the World Bank. Her work focuses on development and implementation of capacity building and knowledge exchange activities related to climate-smart agriculture, sustainable land-water management, and carbon finance in agriculture, forestry, and other land use. Email: yhuan@worldbank.org 46