Is Ecological Agriculture Productive?

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Mar 02, 2009 at 17:08:20 PM PST

In general, yields from ecological agriculture can be broadly comparable to conventional yields in developed countries. In developing countries, ecological agriculture practices can greatly increase productivity, particularly if the existing system is low-input, which is the largely the case for Africa.

In 293 countries studied, organic produced 92% as much as conventional in developed countries, but produced 80% MORE than conventional in developing countries. Given those numbers, the researchers found that we could keep the same farmland that is in use now, switch to organic, and still successfully feed the world - or even feed a LARGER population. To do this, we wouldn't have to use more land for farming.

That answers one fear people mention often, that is organic can't feed the world, or that we'd have to cut down the rainforests to have enough land to feed the world using organic methods. Turns out it's not true. Neither is it true that cover crops can't produce enough nitrogen to replace synthetic fertilizer. Turns out that's totally bull. (One thing to keep in mind is that about half of the fertilizer you dump on your crops leaches out, so when you're considering how much nitrogen you need from your cover crops, it's significantly LESS than you need from synthetic fertilizer.)

In other words:

This model suggests that organic agriculture could potentially provide enough food globally, but without the negative environmental impacts of conventional agriculture.

Next, the paper discusses 286 projects from 57 countries in which farmers increased productivity by 79% (on average) using "resource-conserving" agricultural techniques (not necessarily organic). But it was even BETTER in Africa - 116% increase for all African projects and 128% for East Africa. Worldwide, these techniques also resulted in increased water use efficiency, carbon sequestration, and reduced pesticide use.

That study built on a previous study that found that 89 projects examined increased productivity by adopting sustainable practices.

...the yield increases were 50-100% for rain-fed crops, though considerably greater in a number of cases, and 5-10% for irrigated crops

For example:

• Average food production per household rose by 1.7 tonnes per year (up by 73%) for 4.42 million small farmers growing cereals and roots on 3.6 million hectares.
• Increase in food production was 17 tonnes per year (up 150%) for 146,000 farmers on 542,000 hectares cultivating roots (potato, sweet potato, cassava).
• Total production rose by 150 tonnes per household (up by 46%) for the larger farms in Latin America (average size 90 hectares).

Here are some more bits of anecdotal data from various studies around the world:

In Africa:

• Soil and water conservation in the drylands of Burkina Faso and Niger have transformed formerly degraded lands. The average family has shifted from being in cereal deficit of 644 kg per year (equivalent to 6.5 months of food shortage) to producing an annual surplus of 153 kg.
• In Ethiopia, some 12,500 households have adopted sustainable agriculture, resulting in a 60% increase in crop yields.
• In Tigray, Ethiopia, yields of crops from composted plots were 3-5 times higher than those treated only with chemicals.
• Projects in Senegal promoted stall-fed livestock, composting systems, green manures, water harvesting systems and rock phosphate. Yields of millet and peanuts increased dramatically by 75-195% and 75-165% respectively.
• In Kenya, 500 farmers on some 1000 hectares have seen maize yields improve from about 2 to 4 t/ha following the application of soil conservation, soil fertility and organic agriculture methods.
• A range of biological pest management methods together with legumes, cover crops and green manures for soil fertility improvement resulted in a doubling of beans and groundnut yields from 300 to 600 kg/ha in western Kenya.
• In eastern and central Kenya, smallholder farmers have been trained in natural soil fertility management; integrated environmentally friendly weed, pest and disease protection; on-farm soil and water conservation techniques; and farm level seed conservation, with a resulting 50% increase in productivity and 40% increase in income.
• More than 1000 farmers in low soil fertility areas in the North Rift and western regions of Kenya increased maize yields to 3,414 kg/ha (71% increase in productivity) and bean yields to 258 kg/ha (158% increase in productivity) as compared to traditional agriculture, by incorporating soil fertility management, crop diversification and improved crop management.
• Integration of pond fish culture into low-input farm systems with some 2000 farmers in Malawi increased vegetable yields from 2700 to 4000 kg/ha, with the fish ponds producing the equivalent of 1500 kg/ha of fish, a new source of food for households.

In Latin America:

• 45,000 families in Honduras and Guatemala have increased crop yields from 400-600 kg/ha to 2000-2500 kg/ha using green manures, cover crops, contour grass strips, in-row tillage, rock bunds and animal manures.
• The states of Santa Caterina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sol in southern Brazil have focused on soil and water conservation using contour grass barriers, contour ploughing and green manures. Maize yields have risen from 3 to 5 tonnes/ha and soybeans from 2.8 to 4.7 tonnes/ha.
• The high mountain regions of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador are some of the most difficult areas in the world for growing crops. Despite this, farmers have increased potato yields by three fold, particularly by using green manures to enrich the soil. Using these methods, some 2000 farmers in Bolivia have improved potato production from about 4000 kg/ha to 10-15000 kg/ha.
• In Brazil, use of green manures and cover crops increased maize yields by between 20-250%.
• In Peru, restoration of traditional Incan terracing led to increases of 150% for upland crops.
• In Honduras, soil conservation practices and organic fertilizers have tripled or quadrupled yields.
• In Cuba, there are more than 7000 organic urban gardens and productivity has grown from 1.5 kg/m2 to nearly 20 kg/m2.

In Asia:

• Participatory irrigation management in Philippines has increased rice yields by about 20%.
• Yield increases of 175% were reported from farms in Nepal adopting agro-ecological practices.
• In Pakistan, yields of mango and citrus fruits increased by 150-200% after adopting organic agriculture techniques such as mulching, no till production, composting and planting the fruit trees in double dug beds.

In other words, sustainable ag works. Or, as the paper puts it:

It is clear that ecological agriculture is productive and has the potential to meet food security needs, particularly in developing countries... Moreover, ecological agricultural approaches allow farmers to improve local food production with low-cost, readily available technologies and inputs, without causing environmental damage.