%0 Journal Article
%T An ecologically sustainable approach to agricultural production intensification: Global perspectives and developments Une approche ¨¦cologiquement durable de l¡¯intensification de la production agricole : perspectives globales et d¨¦veloppements Un enfoque ecol¨®gicamente sostenible de la intensificaci¨®n de la producci¨®n agr¨ªcola: perspectivas globales y avances
%A Amir Kassam
%A Theodor Friedrich
%J Field Actions Science Reports
%D 2012
%I Institut Veolia Environnement
%X The root cause of agricultural land degradation and decreasing productivity ¨C as seen in terms of loss of soil health -- is our low soil-carbon farming paradigm of intensive tillage which disrupts and debilitates many important soil-mediated ecosystem functions. For the most part agricultural soils in tillage-based farming without organic surface residue protection are becoming de-structured and compacted, exposed to increased runoff and erosion, and soil life and biodiversity is deprived of habitat and starved of organic matter, leading to  decrease in soil¡¯s biological recuperating capacity.Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a cropping system based on no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance, permanent organic mulch soil cover, and crop diversification. It, is an effective solution to stopping agricultural land degradation, for rehabilitation, and for sustainable crop production intensification. CA is now adopted by large and small farmers on some 125 million hectares across all continents and is spreading at an annual rate of about 7 million hectares.Advantages offered by CA to farmers include better livelihood and income, decrease in financial risks, and climate change adaptability and mitigation. For the small manual farmer, CA offers ultimately up to 50% labour saving, less drudgery, stable yields, and improved food security. To the mechanised farmers CA offers lower fuel use and less machinery and maintenance costs, and reduced inputs and cost of production (including labour when CA involves the use of integrated weed management.  In pro-poor development programmes, every effort should be made to help producers adopt CA production systems. This is because CA produces more from less, can be adopted and practiced by smallholder poor farmers, builds on the farmer¡¯s own natural resource base, does not entirely depend on purchased derived inputs, and is relatively less costly in the early stages of production intensification. La cause principale de la d¨¦gradation des terres agricoles et de la diminution de la productivit¨¦ agricole ¨C si l¡¯on se place du point de vue de la d¨¦t¨¦rioration de la sant¨¦ des sols ¨C est notre mod¨¨le de travail intensif de sols ¨¤ faible teneur en carbone qui perturbe et affaiblit de nombreuses fonctions importantes des ¨¦cosyst¨¨mes assur¨¦es par les sols. La majorit¨¦ des sols exploit¨¦s par une agriculture bas¨¦e sur le travail intensif et non prot¨¦g¨¦s par des r¨¦sidus organique de surface se d¨¦structurent et se compactent, et sont ainsi davantage expos¨¦s au ruissellement et ¨¤ l'¨¦rosion. En outre, la vie et la biodiversit¨¦ des sols ¨¦t
%K Conservation
%K sgriculture
%K paradigms
%K no-till system
%K ecosystem approach
%K agriculture de conservation
%K mod¨¨les
%K syst¨¨me sans labour
%K approche ¨¦cosyst¨¦mique
%K agricultura de conservaci¨®n
%K paradigmas
%K cultivo de conservaci¨®n
%K enfoque ecosist¨¦mico
%U http://factsreports.revues.org/1382