An international technical workshop Investing in sustainable crop intensification: The case for improving soil health
FAO, Rome: 22-24 July 2008, Integrated Crop Management Vol.6-2008
This publication is a report of a Workshop that brought together people from a wide range of institutions - farmers, researchers, ecologists extensionists, policy makers, donors – from 40 countries who share a common concern about the non-sustainability of ways in which farm land is now being used and who are convinced that this must change. The Workshop focused on the growing evidence of success in the adoption and spread of Conservation Agriculture (CA) systems in developing countries. CA-based approaches to sustainable production intensification are highly relevant to the global response to rising food and energy prices, increasing soil and environmental degradation, pervasive rural poverty, climate change and increasing water scarcity. The main outcome of the Workshop is ‘A Framework for Action’. reflecting on actions that would help to upscale the take up of CA, thereby enabling land to be farmed more productively, profitably and sustainably.

E

Visual Soil Assessment
The present publication on Visual Soil Assessment is a practical guide to carry out a quantitative soil analysis with reproducible results using only very simple tools. Besides soil parameters, also crop parameters for assessing soil conditions are presented for some selected crops. The Visual Soil Assessment manuals consist of a series of separate booklets for specific crop groups, collected in a binder. The publication addresses scientists as well as field technicians and even farmers who want to analyse their soil condition and observe changes over time.

E

Tropical crop-livestock systems in conservation agriculture, The Brazilian experience, John N. Landers, Integrated Crop Management Vol. 5-2007
This publication describes how pasture, fodder and livestock production have been integrated into conservation agriculture systems in Brazil’s tropical zones. Vast areas of forest have been cleared in the tropical areas of Brazil for establishment of pastures that become unproductive once the native fertility of the soil is exhausted; this leads to yet more forest clearing. Integrated crop–livestock zero tillage systems allow for the sustainable production of high-yielding pasture without further deforestation; in this system, grazing livestock convert both pastures and crop residues into cash. The ability of pasture to build up the fertility and biological activity of the topsoil is well known. The economics of the system are discussed and its very positive ecological effects are described at length. This publication is geared towards agronomists, advanced farmers, extension workers and agricultural decision-makers throughout the tropics and subtropics. It is hoped that the many lessons learned and technologies developed in the Brazilian tropics can serve, with the necessary local adaptation, as a starting reference for other tropical (and subtropical) zones.

Proceedings of the Third World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, 3-7 October 2005, Nairobi, Kenya
Copies can be obtained from ACT
P.O Box 10375 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel: +254 20 4444252 Fax: +254 20 4451391
KARI - NARL, Waiyaki Way, Nairobi, Kenya
Website: http://www.act-africa.org
Email: info@act-africa.org

Proceedings of the FAO/CTIC Conservation Agriculture Carbon Offset Consultation, held on 28-30 October, 2008, at the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
The proceedings as CD-ROM contain the workshop papers and power point presentations, background documents, agenda and list of participants as well as a framework for action and some short policy briefs, such as a One-page issue paper designed as a tool for conservation advocates to distribute to policymakers and influencers worldwide and a two-page summary document with background and supporting information about the importance of soil carbon sequestration in conservation agriculture

No-Till Farming Systems
WASWC Special Publication no. 3
Editors: T. Goddard, M. Zoebisch, Y. Gan, W. Ellis, A. Watson, S. Sombatpanit
http://www.waswc.org

Conservation Agriculture Case Studies - a series of case studies on conservation agriculture in 5 countries

Ghana

Kenya

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia

This case studies on conservation agriculture are a joint project of the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the Swedish SIDA funded Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA in ICRAF) and FAO. The booklets throw light on controversial issues such as the challenges farmers face in keeping soil covered, in gaining access to adequate equipment, in controlling weeds, and on the challenges projects and institutions face in implementing truly participatory approaches to technology development. The series illustrates the benefits of conservation agriculture systems and the enthusiasm with which many stakeholders are taking it up.

No-tillage Seeding in conservation Agriculture. 2nd Edition
This book is a much-expanded and updated edition of a previous volume, published in 1996 as "No-tillage Seeding: Science and Practice". The base objective remains to describe, in lay terms, a range of international experiments designed to examine the causes of successes and failures in no-tillage. The book summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of no tillage. It highlights the pros and cons of a range of features and options, without promoting any particular product. Topics added or covered in more detail in the second edition include: · soil carbon and how its retention or sequestration interacts with tillage and no-tillage · controlled traffic farming as an adjunct to no-tillage · comparison of the performance of generic no-tillage opener designs · the role of banding fertilizer in no-tillage · the economics of no-tillage · small-scale equipment used by poorer farmers · forage cropping by no-tillage · a method for risk assessment of different levels of machine sophistication

Conservation Agriculture
A manual for farmers and extension workers in Africa
This book is published by the FAO-supported African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR). the manual intends to:
1) explain what conservation agriculture is, and why it is important;
2) describe how to use conservation agriculture principles in the field;
3) highlight the issues and challenges that farmers and extension personnel may encounter when they adopt and adapt conservation agriculture;
4) suggest ways to adapt and disseminate this approach to farming and
5) provide examples of experiences with conservation agriculture in real life.
This manual is part of a larger effort to develop and promote conservation agriculture in Africa. It is designed to reflect the experiences and views of many conservation agriculture practitioners (farmers, researchers and support organizations) to respond to the looming hunger and environmental degradation in sub-Saharan Africa.
The manual is jointly produced and supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA); The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and FAO.

The manual is also available as CD-Rom.

 

Proceedings of the Workshop on Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa Harrison’s Conference Centre, cnr 12th Avenue and Wessels Street, Rivonia, Johannesburg April 2nd and 3rd, 2007.