Securing the Livelihood of Small and Marginal Farmers by Diversifying Farming Systems

Bhargavi, B.; Behera, U. K.

doi:10.18520/cs/v119/i5/854-860

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Agroforestry is deemed to be one of the main methods of realizing sustainable intensification (Smith et al, 2012). This is because agroforestry techniques can increase biodiversity (Torralba et al, 2016;Warren-Thomas et al, 2019), diversify income sources for farmers (Ehrenbergerova et al, 2019), reduce the input of chemical fertilizers (Musokwa et al, 2019), and strengthen resource recycling and soil health (Bhargavi & Behera, 2020). Therefore, scientists have suggested the use of intercropping in dryland orchards on the LOP to achieve sustainable intensification (Gao et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redesign of dryland apple orchards by intercropping the bioenergy crop canola (Brassica napus L.): Achieving sustainable intensification

Zhao

Jia

et al. 2021

GCB Bioenergy

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China's Loess Plateau (LOP) contains around 22% of all the world's apple trees, mainly on smallholdings run by farmers. However, business-as-usual (BAU) intensification has reduced the ecological resilience of orchards. Agroforestry is considered to be an important method of realizing sustainable intensification of agroecosystems. However, the design of practical agroforestry systems in drylands remains poorly researched. We hypothesized that crop density is a key factor in designing dryland apple tree-based agroforestry systems. We carried out an experiment in apple orchards in the semiarid LOP, where the bioenergy crop canola (Brassica napus L.) was intercropped at low, medium, and high densities with row spacings of 25, 50, and 100 cm, respectively, to study its effects on water, carbon, and production. We found that intercropping of canola at different densities clearly decreased soil water content (SWC) in the top 60 cm soil layer at all sampling locations, reduced midday leaf water potential (Ψ m ) and leaf water content (LWC), and caused apple trees to produce more fine roots at greater depths. However, intercropping did not affect SWC in soil layers below 60 cm. The SWC profiles, Ψ m and LWC, progressively recovered over the mulching period.Introduction of canola also significantly (p < 0.05) increased SOC content in the surface layer, an effect less visible in deeper layers, and increased the quality of apple fruit to varying degrees while not affecting apple yield measurably. Overall, higher intercropping density does not lead to severer water deficit but have better carbon sequestration benefit than lower density, and therefore seems more appropriate in our study site. Our findings provide solid evidence that agroforestry helps achieve sustainable intensification of dryland orchards.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redesign of dryland apple orchards by intercropping the bioenergy crop canola (Brassica napus L.): Achieving sustainable intensification

Zhao

Jia

et al. 2021

GCB Bioenergy

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“…Addressing the impact of climate change on crop yields, [18] assert that IFS approaches sustainability in agriculture. It leverages crop residues for animal feed, emphasizing the importance of agricultural productivity enhancement through the utilization of livestock manure to intensify nutrients, improve soil fertility, and reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers [19]. "The integration of diverse enterprises within IFS leads to greater sustainability in farm production by recycling wastes within the system, reducing dependence on external high-energy inputs, and conserving natural resources.…”

Section: Components Of Ifs and Synergistic Effect On Environment Sust...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Farming Systems for Environment Sustainability: A Comprehensive Review

Bhati,

Saikia,

Chaudhary

et al. 2024

JSRR

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This review article explores the holistic approach of Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) as a sustainable strategy for meeting diverse agricultural demands while ensuring environmental sustainability. Characterized by the integration of crops, livestock, fishery, and allied activities within a single farm, IFS is hypothesized to enhance farm resilience, livelihoods, food security, and ecosystem services. The literature review reveals that IFS can significantly improve farm profitability (265%) and employment (143%) compared to single enterprise farms. Furthermore, IFS contribute to nutrient recycling, reducing external input purchases and enhancing soil quality indicators. The adoption of IFS plays a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, improves soil organic carbon, and contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Despite its advantages, challenges in adoption include the need for skills, knowledge, resources, labor, and capital among small and marginal farmers. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability variables in a unified evaluation framework to enhance the adaptability of IFS. In conclusion, IFS emerges as a holistic and climate-resilient model with the potential for sustainable agriculture, requiring continued research, policy support, and innovative strategies for widespread adoption.

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“…About 14% increase in net income was recorded in Rice‐rice‐Azolla/Calotropis + Fish (Shanmugasundaram et al, 1995) to 1838% in Crops + pigeon + buffalo + agroforestry + farm pond (Shekinah & Sankaran, 2007) over monocrop/single enterprise (Table 1 & Figure 1). The IFS systems involving different land‐based enterprises generated net returns of USD 5050 than conventional rice–wheat system (USD 1258; Bhargavi & Behera, 2020). The higher net income in IFS was due to decreased production costs by recycling by‐products and residues of different components within the system.…”

Section: Literature Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated farming system approaches to achieve food and nutritional security for enhancing profitability, employment, and climate resilience in India

Paramesh

Ravisankar

Behera

et al. 2022

Food and Energy Security

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Integrated farming systems (IFS) entail a holistic approach to farming aimed at meeting the multiple demands (impart farm resilience, farmer livelihoods, food security, ecosystem services, and making farms adaptive and resilient, etc.). IFS are characterized by temporal and spatial mixing of crops, livestock, fishery, and allied activities in a single farm. It is hypothesized that these complex farms are more productive at a system level, are less vulnerable to volatility, and produce less negative externalities than simplified farms. Thereby, they cater the needs of small and marginal farmers, who are the backbone of agriculture in India. Our review of literature shows that IFS have the potential to improve farm profitability (265%) and employment (143%) compared to single enterprise farms. The literature showed that IFS enhance nutrient recycling through composting, mulching, and residue incorporation and, as a consequence, have the capacity to reduce the external purchase of inputs. The nutrient recycling in turn helps to increase the soil quality indicators such as soil nutrient availability and also improves soil microbial activity. The IFS play a major role in biodiversity conservation through adoption of diversified cropping system and through integration of indigenous livestock breeds. IFS also played important role in improving soil organic carbon from 0.75 to 0.82%. Due to increased carbon sequestration, biomass production by trees, reduced consumption of fertilizers, and pesticides the greenhouse gas emission could be reduced significantly. This results in a linked system making it sustainable and climate‐resilient. The main challenge associated with adoption of IFS is it requires skill, knowledge, resources, labor, and capital which are not always available with small and marginal farmers. There is a need for integrating productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability variables in a single evaluation framework to effectively generate information toward enhancing adaptability of IFS.

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Securing the Livelihood of Small and Marginal Farmers by Diversifying Farming Systems

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Redesign of dryland apple orchards by intercropping the bioenergy crop canola (Brassica napus L.): Achieving sustainable intensification

Redesign of dryland apple orchards by intercropping the bioenergy crop canola (Brassica napus L.): Achieving sustainable intensification

Integrated Farming Systems for Environment Sustainability: A Comprehensive Review

Integrated farming system approaches to achieve food and nutritional security for enhancing profitability, employment, and climate resilience in India

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