THE REAL ADOPTION OF CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE (CA) IN THE LAKE ALAOTRA AREA AFTER 10 YEARS OF DIFFUSION

MADAGASCAR E. Penot, CIRAD, UMR innovation/URSIA-SCRID

Joana Fabre, IRC Montpellier

R Domas, BRL/Madagascar

Introduction and objective

Extension of Conservation Agriculture in Lake Alaotra started slowly in 1998

Large scale development project BV-Lac/AFD, from 2003 to 2013, farming system and watershed approach.

The GSDM, regrouping Research and Development CA operators, compile statistics on CA adoption from projects database.

These statistics, area and number of adoptants, however, combine different types of activity and systems, which are not all CA activities.

A need of a method to correctly assess cropped areas with real CA practices (FAO definition). Clearly identify what is CA and what is not…

Objective: to avoid to “mythicize” CA and provide reliable data Implemented within the Pampa project (AFD funding).

Methodology: distinction between real CA cropping patterns and other cropping systems

Identification of what can be considered as a real CA farmer’s plot.

On Upland hills = tanety Low land in upland conditions but access to

water in dry season = baiboho Lowland rice with Poor Water Management

or control PWMLR (RMME in french)

Transect and agro-ecological situations lake Alaotra.

Poor water management lowland rice fields

Tanety Baiboho

From tree crop to DMC (Direct-seeding Mulch-based Cropping system) In Madagascar: the challenge of a change in paradigm for farmers.

Definition of CA The approach is based on partnership,

farming system analysis, and modelling for a Decision Support Systems (DSS) project orientation.

 The Madagascar case : the Lake Alaotra case study.

The non CA plots to be removed from the current statisticsOn tanety and baiboho

pastures, fodder crops, improved fallow, re-forestation, re-greening with covercrops, cover-crops as preliminary improved fallow (potential CA)

first year (Y0) or CA “introductive” year with tillage : the first real year in CA is the year 2 (Y1)

On lowlands : poor water control rice systems PWMLR

Given the very poor quality data on poor water control rice systems (the 2/3 of rice fields in the lake : 70 000 ha!), we decided that only 10% of the areas currently monitored by the BV-Lac project were under CA (after expert and plot database analysis)

Official CA data

2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-100

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Surface

Number of adopting

Area

Number of farmers

The cohort analysis

Assessment of the abandonment rate, per year, by plot age. According to the cohort analysis of databases, a recount of

real CA has been done. Removing all plots in the first year (Y0) and the non CA

plots,

The method of Cohort analysis reveals the abandon % and the difficulty of a sustainable adoption at a medium term

Provide a better assessment of how cropped area under CA was evolving year by year

Rate of abandon according to CA plot age

Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 70%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Rate of abandonment according to the age of plot

The main results:

The real CA area is assessed at 419 ha in 2010

(estimated at 450 ha in 2011) The number of adopting farmers is between 600

and 1000- Abandon rate decrease from 60 % in Y0 to 10 % in

Y5 BUT increase the year 6 : some plots are tilled.

Our hypothesis: - a poor mulch leading to future weed problem- Soil compaction : do the covercrop plays its role ?

One main reason for adoption: yield stability on mid termAverage yields on CA systems with upland rice in 2009/2010 BRL

Evolution des rendements en fonction de l'ancienneté en SCV des parcelles

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

0 1 2 3 4 5

Ancienneté en SCV des parcelles

Ren

dem

en

ts (

kg

/ h

a)

Arachide Stylosanthes

Arachide En culture pure

Maïs Dolique

Maïs Mucuna

Maïs Niébé

Maïs Stylosanthes

Maïs Vigna umbellata

Pois de terre Stylosanthes

Riz Stylosanthes

Riz En culture pure

Plot Age

Yield

CA systems evolution

From imported biomass based with local Bozaka (Aristida spp) in 2003

- to the current systems based on covercrops such as Dolichos, Stylosanthes, Bracharia, Vetch and Crotalaria mainly associated with Rice, Maize, cowpeas and cassava (see poster).

Causes of abandon abandon rate is between 40 and 60% after Y0 (opportunistic farmers) with a clear decreasing trend over time (30 to 10 % from Y1 to Y5),

Other sources of abandon after Y1; land status for 34 % (share cropping or renting) difficulties to master and develop technically the system occurs for only

22 % lack of cash to invest in the CA system for 15 %

What is an “adopting farmer”

The adoption process of CA is slow (between 3 and 6 years) and complex.

Requires training, knowledge acquisition, understanding, know-how and then practices

Adopting farmer =  more than one plot in Y1 (CA areaincreases in

the farm). CA plots from Y1 to Y8

Conclusion

The first 3 years of CA implementation (learning, transforming, appropriation and then know-how) are key years in adoption and innovation requiring labor, investment, skills and willingness to move, from a paradigm (tillage), to a new method (no tillage coupled with long term vision and strategy).

If intensification with mineral fertilizers generally provides an immediate response, this is not the case with CA practices: profits are not always immediately seen or even recorded

Due to crop rotation, the impact on production stability may only be seen after a minimum of 3 years.

Yields do not increase significantly trough CA practices (3 % per year) but intensification do.

Y0 and Y1 can be therefore considered as an “experimental phase of CA”,

During the following years Y2, Y3 and Y4 and beyond, abandonment decreased drastically.

 

The difficulty of identifying “opportunistic farmers” withdrawing from the end of the first year is jeopardizing development efforts on CA.

CA = a paradigm change in terms of practices AND

A move from short term “mining” agriculture to mid term CA strategies

Separate as well impact of CA from impact of intensification….

Thanks for your attention

Rice and vetch in baiboho

Upland Rice after StylosanthesIn tanety