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Book (stand-alone)Soil survey investigations for irrigation
FAO Soils Bulletin 42
1979Also available in:
No results found.The pressing need for increased agricultural production in the years ahead can only be met by more efficient use of our land and water resources including more widespread and better irrigation in those regions where rainfall is inadequate. Production gains will be shortlived unless the attendant hazards of salinization, water logging and lowered fertility are kept in check by effective planning and management based on a thorough understanding of the soil conditions. Soil survey and land classifi cation are generally accepted essential preliminaries to investment in irrigation development. This publication aims to describe the special requirements of soil survey for irrigation development, and assumes that the reader is familiar with basic soil science and soil survey techniques. -
DocumentNo-Tillage Farming for Sustainable Land Management: Lessons from the 2000 Brazil Study Tour
Occasional Paper No. 12 - October 2001
2001Also available in:
No results found.In November 2000, the World Bank (WB) and the Brazilian Federation for Direct Planting into Crop Residue (FEBRAPDP) organized the third Study Tour on “Producer-Led Rural Organizations for Sustainable Land Management” (PRO-SLM), with particular emphasis on notillage systems (NT).1 The Study Tour followed a 10-day itinerary of over 1,000 km through Southern Brazil, covering Paraná and Santa Catarina States, two states which received WB support through land and micro-watershed management projects.< /p> This Paper presents the salient features of NT development in Southern Brazil and discusses the lessons learned with special reference to the scope for adapting and developing such production systems to Africa, in line with the Better Land Husbandry approach advocated through the Soil Fertility Initiative (SFI) in several African countries.In the context of this Paper, the term No-Tillage (NT) is used to describe the farming system studied in Brazil. NT has been an integral part of the ( micro)watershed management approach developed in the Southern Brazilian states of Paraná and Santa Catarina. NT was developed in response to continuously declining land productivity under “conventional” systems based on soil tillage. The underlying land management principles that led to the development of NT systems were to protect the soil surface from sealing by rainfall, to achieve and maintain an open internal soil structure, and to develop the means for safe disposal of any surface runoff t hat would nevertheless still occur. Consequently, the NT technical strategy was based on three essential farm practices, namely: (i) not tilling the soil; (ii) maintaining soil cover at all times; and (iii) using suitable crop rotations. All three practices must be followed if improved results are to be obtained in a sustainable fashion. -
Book (stand-alone)Improved production systems as an alternative to shifting cultivation
FAO Soils Bulletin No. 53
1984Also available in:
No results found.Shifting cultivation, under its diverse forms of slash and burn system, is a traditional method of cultivating tropical upland soils, mostly for subsistence purposes. This traditional system of cultivation is in ecological balance with the environment and does not irreversibly degrade the soil resource, provided a sufficient length of fallow is allowed for soil restoration. However, increasing population pressures necessitate more intensive use of land. The consequence is extended cropping perio ds and shortened fallows. In the extreme, short fallow periods are no longer adequate to restore the soil?s productive capacity. The present set of papers is the result of an expert consultation on the subject. The object of the consultation was to provide guidelines for future activities and policy decisions in this subject area. The ultimate objective is to provide feasible alternatives for improving these practices or replacing them with systems of permanent cropping.
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