Is conventional small-scale cotton-based agriculture sustainable in

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Is conventional small‐scale cotton‐based agriculture sustainable in West and Central Africa?
agriculture sustainable in West and Central Africa?
Balarabé O. 1, Séguy
g y L. 2, Naudin K. 3, Lifran R. 4
Regional
g
workshop
p on CA
Xieng Khouang Laos
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Northern Cameroon
Cameroon:: A context with
constraints…
constraints
…
Climatic and soil fertility constraints
A high demographic pressure with effect on soil uilization .
Population movement from high to low density population regions, with same extensive
agricultural practices
A heterogenous milieu with real need for appropriate adaptation of technical solutions
Small-scaled farm unit with little adaptation margin(2,6 ha average total area), with little agricultural
equipment
Differentiated farmers and livestock owners communities, with a high pressure on crop resides
and generated conflicts
A strong cotton based cropping systems with cotton depending input supply and
extension.
A fluctuating cotton price on the international market
An increasing input price figure, especially fertilisers
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What is Sustainable Agriculture
g
?
Sustainable agriculture adresses the issue of ensuring sustainable satisfaction of food and other services
(monetary revenue) with respect to the three main components of sustainable development (Guyomard 2004),
(FAO 1999):
economic sustainability also called economic efficiency, dealing with the ability of the farming
system to ensure sufficient and competitive output production to fulfil market and population
needs;
social sustainability or social equity, dealing with agricultural ability to ensure equitable
revenue or return to different stakeholders of the agricultural production chain ;
Ecological sustainability, dealing with intergenerational preservation of the environment
referring here to the sum of natural resources used to ensure agricultural production..
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Economic sustainability
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Total production, Total area cultivated and number of farmers
of cotton
2000‐2008
400,000
,
350,000
300,000
250 000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
Nbre total de planteurs Nbre
Superficies totales de coton ha
Production totale coton‐
graine tonnes
i t
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Average Yield, fertilizer cost, Purchasing price and farmer
revenue from cotton.
2000‐2008
300,000
,
Average yield Rdt en kg/ha
250,000
Purchasing price Fcfa/kg
200,000
,
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
Revenus bruts moyens Fcfa/ha
Fertiliser cost Fcfa/ha
Revenus nets moyens Fcfa/ha
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Social sustainability
Social sustainability
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Social equity …
1. Even
1
E
th
though
h reinforced
i f
d through
th
h equalizing
li i prices
i
i iinputt supply
in
l
and purchasing prices of cotton seeds all over the cotton belt
2. Limited by effect of ecological differences on agricultural
2
performances
2. Limited by effects of input availibility to farmer
2. Limited by traditional organic matter management among
2
community stakeholders
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Ecological sustainability
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Soil fertility degradation due to…
Erosion due to unappropriate soil
management practises
Unappropriated management
of soil organic matter and soil
nutrients balance
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Opportunities with DMC
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Increasing economic efficiency…
With increasing average yields
Decreasing fertiliser application need over time
Decreasing labour constraint especially weeding constraints
Enhancing agro-climatic conditions for diversification
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… Reducing social differences in
agricultural returns
1. Enhancing yield in low fertility soils with minimum fertiliser
application
Increasing yield over time with minimum fertiliser application 50 % of
fertiliser recommended level
Decreasing yield differences between high and low fertiliser plots
2 Decreasing climatic constraints effects on agricultural yields
2.
Climatic stabilised yields over time
3. Introducing crop residues management
issues between farmers and livestock
owners
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Average yield evolution in cotton on station results, Zouana (750 mm rainfall average)
2002‐2007
2002
2007
Low fertiliser application
1800
Plots 2,3,4, 5
1600
2002
1400
2003
1200
2004
1000
2005
800
2006
600
2007
400
200
0
SD
labour
SCV
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… enhancing ecological
sustainability by:
1. Reducing soil erosion
Protecting soil against splash-effect…
and hence increasing its productivity
2 Increasing soil organic matter content
2.
3. Increasing global ecological diversity in
cropping systems Æ macrofauna and plant
diversity and complementarities
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Conclusion and perspectives
Small-scaled, cotton based agriculture, progressively fails
to fulfill sustainable development, mainly due to economic
and technical constraints
DMC appears to be more suitable to fulfil the three main
componants of sustainable development in relation with
agriculture
Shifting from conventionnal agriculture is neccessary and
must be accompanied by both scientific and institutional
community
Especially within small-scale agriculture with little
alternatives
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Merci pour votre attention