Thumbnail Image

Tillage systems for soil and water conservation

FAO Soils Bulletin No. 54

Year of publication 1984

Pages 293 p.

Author Unger, P.W.;Land and Water Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

ISBN 9251021546

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The increasing world population is resulting in intensified cropping of the limited areas of arable land to provide the necessary food in some countries. Unless effective conservation practices are used, such intensive cropping tends to increase the loss of soil and water resources. This trend must be reversed. The objectives of the Soils Bulletin are to present the principles and practices if tillage systems for sustained food production and to create an awareness of the need to conserve the world?s soil water energy resources for future generations. Although energy is an integral part of tillage systems, the emphasis is on soil and water conservation. This bulletin emphasizes tillage systems for developing countries, but relies heavily on principles that have been developed throughout the world. The need for more research on conservation tillage in developing countries is stressed.

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    Improved production systems as an alternative to shifting cultivation
    FAO Soils Bulletin No. 53
    1984
    Also 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Document
    No-Tillage Farming for Sustainable Land Management: Lessons from the 2000 Brazil Study Tour
    Occasional Paper No. 12 - October 2001
    2001
    Also 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.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Document
    Paraguay: Financial and Economic Implications of No-tillage and Crop Rotations Compared to Conventional Cropping Systems
    Occasional Paper N. 9 - July 1997
    1997
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The introduction of soybeans to the southern and eastern parts of Paraguay in the early 1970s, followed by wheat in the mid-1970s, using conventional mechanised soil preparation practices with disc ploughs and harrows, initiated a process of widespread soil degradation and erosion. The technique of no-tillage was first used in Paraguay in the late 1970s. Following a slow start, its adoption by Paraguayan farmers gathered momentum increasing from 20,000 ha in 1991/92 to an impressive 250,000 ha i n 1995/96, accounting for about 19% of the land cultivated mechanically. In 1993, the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadeira (MAG) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) started a project aimed at adapting and further disseminating no-tillage in combination with rotations of both cash and green manure crops in the major grain producing departments of Paraguay. Since very little was known about the economics of these technologies in Paraguay, MAG in association with GTZ, initiated a detailed study which was guided by the FAO Investment Centre. In this paper, the findings of the study are summarised and discussed.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.