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Linking farm and soil nutrient balances with economic performance of main agricultural livelihood system types in a semi-arid region of Burkina Faso

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Title Linking farm and soil nutrient balances with economic performance of main agricultural livelihood system types in a semi-arid region of Burkina Faso
 
Creator Thiombiano, Boundia Alexandre
 
Contributor Le, Quang Bao
 
Subject eco-efficiency
agricultural livelihoods context
 
Description Providing sufficient food to increasing populations in SubSaharan
Africa without undermining agro-ecosystems is a growing
challenge. Addressing this challenge requires developing an array of
sustainable soil nutrient management options for conditions specific to
different livelihood types in order to improve the eco-efficiency of
production systems. However, there is a lack of studies linking farm
ecological and economic performance that also account for livelihood
heterogeneity. The aim of the present study was to contribute to filling
this research gap using soil nutrient balances as ecological indicators.
Five agricultural livelihood system types for a total of 15 farms were
monitored for one year in Ioba province, south-western Burkina Faso.
Results showed that farm heterogeneity strongly influences nutrient
balance and economic performance. Two main cases were identified. The
first case consisted of farms showing negative soil nutrient balance with
low profit that needed to (i) better integrate crops and livestock; (ii)
use affordable erosion control measures; and (iii) recycle crop residue.
In the second case, farms were profitable and showed negative soil
nutrient balance. These farms need to (i) consistently implement
technologies to reduce soil erosion; (ii) reduce nutrient gaps by
recycling crop residues; and (iii) combine the use of mineral and organic
fertilizers as compost to improve soil organic matter and physical
properties, thereby improving soil resistance to erosion. For both cases,
nutrient management options integrating crops and livestock were found to
be the most promising options for reaching eco-efficiency. Therefore,
policy intervention should promote crop-livestock integration and further
studies should deepen investigation into the linkages between crops and
livestock.
 
Date 2017-01-31
2017-02-28T22:33:19Z
2017-02-28T22:33:19Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/dspace/limited
Boundia Alexandre Thiombiano, Quang Bao Le. (31/1/2017). Linking farm and soil nutrient balances with economic performance of main agricultural livelihood system types in a semi-arid region of Burkina Faso.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/6097
Timeless limited access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-4.0
 
Format PDF