CAMA - Research-based participatory approaches for adopting Conservation Agriculture in the Mediterranean Area

Conservation Agriculture is based on three key principles, namely, no- or minimum-tillage, soil cover with crop residues, and use of crop rotations. Crop residue disposal on soil surface is expected to increase soil carbon content, compared to conventional, tillage-based cropping, where residues are generally removed from the field. This is seen as an important process explaining the increased soil productivity over time under CA compared to conventional systems. Besides, based on experimental evidence of increased water productivity under sub-optimal rainfall conditions and better soil moisture content, CA has been attributed the potential for mitigating negative effects from future climate change, when rainfall is projected to decrease and be more unreliable. Adoption rates of CA in Mediterranean countries, however, remain low despite more than three decades of research, development investments and, in the EU countries, economic subsidies, representing about 2% of the arable crop area for EU countries and 0.8% only for African countries. This is in huge contrast, for example, with the situation in South America, where about 50% of the cropped area is cultivated without tillage in CA systems. However, adoption of CA in that part of the world is predominantly successful in mechanised, medium- to large-scale farms, and by far less in smallholder farms where “a defining characteristic of smallholder is that they struggle to be competitive and hence to provide an income to support themselves and their families, they [….] produce at least part of their product for self-consumption” (OECD, 2015). Adoption of CA is conditioned by its technical performance, subject to the opportunities and trade-offs that operate at farm and village scales and constrained by different aspects of the context in which the farming system operates, including market, socio-economic, institutional and policy conditions defining the innovation system and the variability inherent to the physical environment (e.g. climate change). Therefore, a challenge that demands some research is to identify where and how a particular CA practice may fit best, and which farmers in any given community are likely to benefit the most. Answering these questions will help directing the investment efforts in CA dissemination.

CAMA aims to improve the nutrients and water efficiency in Mediterranean agricultural systems with legume-based crop rotations and conservation agriculture implementation. Furthermore, the results from the experiments setup in the CAMA project will suggest sound practices to reduce soil degradation processes (mainly soil erosion) and to increase the soil’s natural fertility with the concomitant reduction in the need for fertilisers. Besides, since we are aware that sustainability in agriculture is achieved not only by promoting new technological solutions and advanced tools, but also through the training of famers and technicians, this aspect will play an important role in the project. The major innovation of CAMA proposal is to overcome the obstacles – social-economic-agronomic-technological - to the CA diffusion in the 8 target countries of the Mediterranean basin, with the participation of local farmers’ associations, technicians and stakeholders. The project aims to identify: i) innovative cropping systems, based on legumes in rotation with cereals; ii) new agronomic management practices to maintain soil fertility, improve crop residue management, enhance nitrogen and water use efficiencies; iii) and increase the end-user’s technical knowledge to face effectively the new challenges in the agriculture of the third millennium in Mediterranean countries.

On the general level of the PRIMA program “…its ability to develop and eventually adopt innovative and sustainable solutions for water management and provision and agro-food systems contributing to the implementation of UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development”, CAMA aims to develop technical solutions and cropping systems which will be conducive to widespread CA adoption. On the level of corresponding key performance indicators, CAMA contributes to the following general goals and will use the following outcomes indicators (in brackets): • Innovation in water management (number of applied R&I technical solutions to the challenges of water management); • Innovation in farming systems (number of new legume varieties/crops adaptable to CA; • Improved knowledge on soil erosion mechanism to enhance soil fertility; number of innovations in CA adoption from smallholders in Mediterranean area); • Economic growth/competitiveness (increased farmers’ income; enhanced technical level of technicians, extension services and farmers in Mediterranean rural areas). Similarly, CAMA delivers to the following Thematic Areas and Priorities: 1. Water management (by providing an increase in WUE with the adoption of CA principles, and new drought-tolerant cultivars, with a water-saving potential of 12-15%); 2. Farming systems (by providing high protein crops, reducing N application and consequent possible leaching, enabling sustainable and efficient agriculture and food production systems). Finally, the project will contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), linked to SDG2 (sustainable agriculture), SDG6 (responsible production and sustainable water management), SDG13 (Climate action) and SDG15 (protect land degradation).