Good Environmental Practices

Building on FAO’s work on good practices in agriculture and forestry, BEFS has compiled a set of good environmental practices that can be implemented by bioenergy feedstock producers so as to minimize the risk of negative environmental impacts from their operations, and to ensure that modern bioenergy delivers on its climate change mitigation potential.

The good practices compiled  are divided into three main groups.

• The first group is comprised of agricultural management approaches (namely Ecosystem Approach, Conservation Agriculture and Organic Agriculture), which provide comprehensive and holistic frameworks and principles of sustainable agriculture.
• The second group consists of integrated, sustainable agricultural and forestry management systems, namely Agroforestry, Integrated Food-Energy Systems, and Multiple Cropping Systems and Crop Rotation.
• The third and last group includes a broad range of field-level agricultural and forestry practices that can be implemented on the ground by bioenergy feedstock producers, such as No- or Minimum Tillage, Integrated Pest Management, and Integrated Plant Nutrient Management.

For each good practice, a detailed description of the key features is provided, followed by a discussion of the potential environmental and socio-economic benefits associated with its implementation, as well as of the related challenges.

• Go to the complete BEFS report, Good Environmental Practices in Bioenergy Feedstock Production - Making Bioenergy Work for Climate and Food Security, or to a Two-page overview of the report.
• Go to the overview table  to see the benefits associated with the practices and to open their descriptions.

Click on the text below to open the description of each example.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

Conservation Agriculture

• The COMACO Model: Increasing smallholder productivity through Conservation agriculture in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia
  Region: Southern Africa │ Country: Zambia │ Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)
• Quesungal system: Conservation agriculture with an agroforestry component in Lempira, Honduras
  Region: Central America | Country: Honduras | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays); sorghum (Sorghum bicolor); fuelwood

The Ecosystem Approach and Sustainable Crop Production Intensification, Agro-ecology and Eco-agriculture

• Poverty eradication in the Iganga district, Uganda: maize, cassava, sugar cane, millet, and sweet potatoes productivity increase through Ecosystem Approach-based practices
  Region: East Africa | Country: Uganda | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays); cassava (Manihot esculenta); sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum); sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
• Ecosystem Approach-based practices to improve soil health and reduce yield decline of sugar cane in Queensland, Australia
  Region: Australia/Oceania | Country: Australia | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)

Organic Agriculture

• Certified organic soybean production in Capanema, south of Brazil
  Region: South America | Country: Brazil | Crop/Feedstock: Soybean (Glycine max)
• Organic sugar-cane production in the San Javier region, province of Misiones, Argentina
  Region: South Asia | Country: India | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)

SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

 Agroforestry

• Income diversification through integration of oil palm and livestock production in Malaysia
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Malaysia | Crop/Feedstock: Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)
• Highly integrated food- and energy-producing farm in Santander, Colombia
  Region: South America | Country: Colombia | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum); animal dung (biogas - methane) 

Integrated Food-Energy Systems (IFES)

• Type 1 IFES: Intercropping food, feed and fuel
  Region: East Africa | Country: Malawi | Crop/Feedstock: Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan); sorghum (Sorghum spp.); maize (Zea mays)
• Type 2 IFES: Biogas Programme in Viet Nam
  Region: Southeast Asia | Country: Viet Nam | Crop/Feedstock: Animal manure (for biogas production)

Multiple Cropping Systems and Crop Rotation

• Cassava-legumes intercropping for food and feed in the Mahasarakham province in northeast Thailand
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Thailand | Crop/Feedstock: Cassava (Manihot esculenta)
• Poplar-Lucerne intercropping for timber, fuelwood and feed production in the Chui Valley, Kyrgyzstan
  Region: Central Asia | Country: Kyrgyzstan | Crop/Feedstock: Fuelwood

SUSTAINABLE FIELD-LEVEL AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY PRACTICES

Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn

• Improved fallows in maize farms in western Kenya
  Region: East Africa | Country: Kenya | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)
• Soybean improved fallow increases profitability of sugar-cane plantation in eastern Australia
  Region: Australia/Oceania | Country: Australia | Crops/Feedstocks: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum); soybean (Glycine max)

Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM)

• Community-based forest management among pastoralist communities for the sustainable production of timber and fuelwood in the Suledo forest in Tanzania
  Region: East Africa | Country: Tanzania | Crop/Feedstock: Fuelwood
• Forest harvesting through Community-Based Forest Management for the production of sustainable fuelwood in the Philippines
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Philippines | Crop/Feedstock: Fuelwood (firewood and charcoal)

Conservation And Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources and Seeds

• Introduction of disease resistant maize cultivars in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania
  Region: East Africa | Country: Tanzania | Crop: Maize (Zea mays)
• The Southern Africa Sorghum Landrace Research and Development (SALRED)
  Region: Southern Africa | Country: Zimbabwe | Crop/Feedstock: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)

Forest Buffer Zone

• Watershed scale impacts of buffers and upland conservation practices on agrochemical delivery to streams from maize cultivation, Nebraska, USA
  Region: North America | Country: United States of America | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)
• Tree species selection for buffer zone agroforestry: the case of the Budongo Forest in Uganda
  Region: East Africa | Country: Uganda | Crop/Feedstock: Cassava (Manihot esculenta); maize (Zea mays); sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum); groundnut (Arachis hypogaea); fuelwood

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

• “Push-Pull” Integrated Pest and Nutrient Management in maize plantations in the Lake Victoria region, Kenya
  Region: East Africa | Country: Kenya | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)
• Integrated Pest Management of cassava mosaic virus and cassava mealybug in sub-Saharan Africa
  Region: Africa | Crop/Feedstock: Cassava (Manihot esculenta)

Integrated Plant Nutrient Management (IPNM)

• Rebuilding soil fertility in sorghum and maize plantations in Burkina Faso through IPNM
  Region: West Africa | Country: Burkina Faso | Crops/Feedstocks: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor); maize (Zea mays)
• IPNM in sugar-cane production in three agro-ecological zones in Bangladesh
  Region: South Asia | Country: Bangladesh | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)

No- or Minimum Tillage

• No-tillage by soy and maize smallholders as part of a watershed management strategy in Rio do Campo, Brazil
  Region: South America | Country: Brazil | Crop/Feedstock: Soybean (Glycine max); maize (Zea mays)
• Minimum tillage in maize slope cultivation in Rodrigues, Mauritius
  Region: East Africa | Country: Mauritius | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)

Pollination Management

• Increased yields in oil palm plantations through pollination management in Malaysia
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Malaysia | Crop/Feedstock: Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)
• Honey bee contribution to canola production in Southern Brazil
  Region: South America | Country: Brazil | Crop/Feedstock: Canola (Brassica napus)

Precision Agriculture

• Autoguidance system operating on a sugar-cane harvester in Chapadão do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
  Region: South America | Country: Brazil | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)
• Mapping and identifying basal stem rot disease in oil palms in North Sumatra with QuickBird imagery
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Indonesia | Crop/Feedstock: Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)

Rainwater Harvesting and Management

• Tassa planting pits for sorghum and millet cultivation in Niger
  Region: West Africa | Country: Niger | Crop/Feedstock: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)
• In situ rainwater harvesting and gravel mulch combination for maize production in the dry semi-arid region of China
  Region: East Asia | Country: China | Crop: Maize (Zea mays)

Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands

• Degraded land rehabilitation and biodiesel production using jatropha in Andhra Pradesh, India
  Region: South Asia | Country: India | Crop/Feedstock: Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.)
• In situ bioremediation, using wild sunflower- and cassava-based compost, of heavy metal contaminated soil for maize production in Nigeria
  Region: West Africa | Country: Nigeria | Crops/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)

Soil Cover

• Use of leguminous shrubs as soil cover to increase soil fertility in maize cultivations in the Busia and Vihiga districts, western Kenya
  Region: East Africa | Country: Kenya | Crop/Feedstock: Maize (Zea mays)
• Application of wild sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) as green manure in the Bukidnon Province in Mindanao, the Philippines
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Philippines | Crop/Feedstock: Wild sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia)

Sustainable Forest Harvest

• Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) willow for energy and phytoremediation in Sweden
  Region: Northern Europe | Country: Sweden | Crop/Feedstock: Fuelwood
• Sustainable wood energy from Coppicing in the Philippines
  Region: South East Asia | Country: Philippines | Crop/Feedstock: Fuelwood

Sustainable Irrigation

• Spate irrigation for maize and sorghum production in Eritrea
  Region: East Africa | Country: Eritrea | Crops/Feedstocks: Maize (Zea mays); sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)
• Sustainable irrigation in a sugar-cane farm in Belgaum, India
  Region: South Asia | Country: India | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)

Wild Biodiversity Management at Farm Level

• Control of planthopper Pyrilla perpusilla in large scale sugar-cane plantations in Uttar Pradesh, India, through management of ectoparasitoid Epiricania melanoleuca
  Region: South Asia | Country: India | Crop/Feedstock: Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)
• High diversity shelterbelts for fuelwood production, and for the control of wind erosion, salinization and desertification, increase wheat yields in Xinjiang, China
  Region: East Asia | Country: China | Crop/Feedstock: Wheat (Triticum spp.)