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Converting to conservation agriculture
Converting to conservation agriculture
Converting fully to CA may take several years. You should plan carefully what to do.
For example, it may be best to begin to grow a cover crop before reducing tillage.
Improvements may be more gradual, and yields may even decline in the short term before your soil fertility has improved, you can control weeds properly, and other benefits can make themselves felt.
It can be difficult to switch to conservation agriculture. You have to accept new ideas and learn a new set of skills.
In order to give the right advice, extension personnel need to know not only about conservation agriculture techniques, but also about how best to work with farmers to introduce them.
Three posible stages
Three posible stages
1) Before you start
Choose a field to start conservation agriculture. Select part of a field where you feel able to take a risk, have good conditions for learning, and have a good chance of success.
When you have converted this field to conservation agriculture, you can start on the others – for example, on badly eroded fields on slopes.
If you have fertile fields on a hillside that are susceptible to erosion, make sure you protect them before starting.
Try out what works on one field first. Observe closely and learn what works and what does not.
Get together with friends and neighbours who are also interested in conservation agriculture.
Prepare the field:
If the soil is compacted or has a hardpan: Use an animal- or tractordrawn subsoiler or a ripper.
If the soil has ridges and furrows: Plough once, preferably with a chisel plough with a long log or iron bar pulled behind to remove the ridges and make the surface more even.
2) First season of conservation agriculture
Cover the soil:
If there are crop residues nearby: Carry them to your field and spread them on the soil surface as mulch.
Plant a cover crop during the first season: Choose a cover crop such as lablab with deep roots to improve the fertility and soil structure
Grow a cover crop on a nearby field, then cut it and spread it on the soil at the beginning of the second season.
Control weeds: It is vital to control weeds, especially during the first few years of conservation agriculture
Don’t plough Instead of ploughing, direct-plant your crops through the mulch, or dig planting basins (Chapter 3) where you can sow seeds
Grow crops You can grow the crops you normally do, but add an intercrop or rotate crops if possible.
Leave the soil covered At harvest, leave the residue on the field to cover the soil during the dry season.
3) Second and following seasons
There should now be enough cover on your field. If not, carry in extra residues from nearby and spread them on your field.
Check for weeds Hand-pull them, slash them, or kill them with herbicide.
Crop residues Decide if it’s possible to produce enough crop residues on the field for the third season.
Needs
Needs
Equipment: You can practise conservation agriculture using a just a hoe.
Jab-planter
Ripper planter
No-till planter
Sprayer or weed wiper
Seed: the right types of seed. Especially seeds of cover crops such as mucuna or lablab.
Inputs: herbicide to control weeds and fertilizer to improve yields, or make compost or use manure to help restore the soil fertility.
Labour: Conservation agriculture generally saves work. But it may mean more work in the first year.
Storage and markets Conservation agriculture should help you grow more, and will produce a greater variety of crops. Be able to harvest these crops, dry them, and store them in your grain store.
Livestock You should try to keep livestock out of your fields, even after harvesting the crop.
Information and support: The skills to practise conservation agriculture.
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