Publications - Sustainable agricultural mechanization covers all levels of farming and processing technologies, and takes into consideration technological, economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects when contributing to the sustainable development of agrifood systems. This publication strives to comprehensively and systematically summarize the status and strategies of China's agricultural mechanization development, its impacts, experiences and practices, and business models. Furthermore, the publication investigates the related investment and policy recommendations to reach the goal of agricultural and rural modernization by 2035, to drive smallholder farmers to enter modern agriculture, and to achieve sustainable development. It is estimated that by 2035, agricultural production in China...

Reports - Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors of Sri Lanka and is key to the livelihood of its population. As it is one of the sectors most vulnerable to climate change, a thorough understanding of its impact is critical for formulating informed and effective adaptation strategies. Climate change challenges agriculture in many ways and affects – directly or indirectly – the economy, productivity, employment and food security. This report presents insights about future climate change impacts on six crops (rice, maize, green gram, big onion, chilli and potato), selected according to a wide range of criteria: contribution to gross...

Factsheets - Keeping the soil covered is a fundamental principle of CA. Crop residues are left on the soil surface, but cover crops may be neededif the gap is too long between harvesting one crop and establishing the next. Cover crops improve the stability of the CA system, not only on the improvement of soil properties but also for their capacity to promote an increased biodiversity in the agro-ecosystem. While commercial crops have a market value, cover crops are mainly grown for their effect on soil fertility or as livestock fodder.

Factsheets - The term direct seeding is understood in CA systems as synonymous with no-till farming, zero tillage, no-tillage, direct drilling, etc. Figure 1 shows the basic design of a direct planter. One of the advantages of direct seeding is that together with other CA practices, it increases the resilience of the agrosystem against climate associated risks. Also, farmers will benefit with the potential increase in crop yield and cost saving, allowing them to diversify investments and thus, be less vulnerable to disasters.

Factsheets - Conservation agriculture systems start each year with the production and distribution of crop residues or an additional cover crop. Erroneously, it is often thought that Conservation Agriculture can only be successfully implemented if herbicides are applied. Fortunately, the creativity and persistence of many farmers and researchers has led to the current situation in which a lot of knowledge and equipment exist to manage cover crops without the use of herbicides.