Eco-regional approaches for sustainable land use and food production: Proceedings of a symposium on eco-regional approaches in agricultural research, 12–16 December 1994, ISNAR, The Hague

507 Pages·1995·36.25 MB·English

by  R. Rabbinge (auth.), J. Bouma, A. Kuyvenhoven, B. A. M. Bouman, J. C. Luyten, H. G. Zandstra (eds.)

ECO-REGIONAL APPROACHES FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND
USE AND FOOD PRODUCTION
Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development
VOLUME 4
Scientific Editor
F.W.T. Penning de Vries, CABO-DLO, Wageningen, The Netherlands
International Steering Committee
0.1. Dent, Edinburgh, U.K.
J.T. Ritchie, East Lansing, Michigan, U.S.A.
P.S. Teng, Manila, Philippines
L. Fresco, Wageningen, The Netherlands
P. Goldsworthy, The Hague, The Netherlands
Aims and Scope
The book series Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development is
intended for readers ranging from advanced students and research leaders to
research scientists in developed and developing countries. It will contribute to the
development of sustainable and productive systems in the tropics, subtropics and
temperate regions, consistent with changes in popUlation, environment, technology
and economic structure.
The series will bring together and integrate disciplines related to systems ap-
proaches for sustainable agricultural development, in particular from the technical
and the socio-economic sciences, and presents new developments in these areas.
Furthermore, the series will generalize the integrated views, results and experiences
to new geographical areas and will present alternative options for sustained
agricultural development for specific situations.
The volumes to be published in the series will be, generally, multi-authored and
result from multi-disciplinary projects, symposiums, or workshops, or are invited.
All books will meet the highest possible scientific quality standards and will be up-
to-date. The series aims- to publish approximately three books per year, with a
maximum of 500 pages each.
The titles published in this series are listed at the end oft his volume.
Eco-regional approaches for
sustainable land use and food production
Proceedings of a symposium on eco-regional approaches
in agricultural research, 12-16 December 1994, ISNAR,
The Hague
Edited by
J.BOUMA
Department of Soil Science and Geology, and C. T. de Wit Graduate School for Production
Ecology, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
A. KUYVENHOVEN
Department of Development Economics, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen,
and Netherlands Economic Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
B. A. M. BOUMAN, J. C. LUYTEN
DLO-Research Institute for Agrobiology and Soil Fertility, Wageningen, The Netherlands
and
H. G. ZANDSTRA
International Potato Center, Lima, Peru
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B. V.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sy•pos1um on Eco-regional Approaches in Agr1cultural Research (1994 :
ISNARl
Eco-re:ional approaches for susta1nable land use and food
production : proceedings of a Sympos1um on Eco-regional Approaches
in Agr1cultural Research, 12-16 December 1994, ISNAR, The Hague 1
ed1ted by J. Bouma ... [et al.]
p. cm. -- <System approaches for sustainable agrlcultural
development ; v. 4)
!ne 1u des 1n dex.
ISBN 978-94-010-4058-7 ISBN 978-94-011-0121-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-0121-9
1. Agr1cultural ecology--Congresses. 2. Food crops--Ecology-
·Congresses. 3. Regional plannlng--Environmental aspects-
·Congresses. 4. Land use, Rural--Envlronmental aspects--Congresses.
5. Sustalnable development--Envlron•ental aspects--Congresses.
I. Bouma, Janneke J. II. T1tle. III. Series.
S589.7.S94 1994
338.1'4--dc20 95-21138
ISBN 978-94-010-4058-7
Printed on acid-free paper
Ali Rights Reserved
@1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1995
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xi
SECTION A. ECO-REGIONAL APPROACHES
Eco-regional approaches, why, what and how
R Rabbinge 3
Facing the challenge of the Andean Zone: the role of modeling
in developing sustainable management of natural resources
R.A. Quiroz, Ruben Dario Estrada, C.U. Le6n-Velarde
and H.G. Zandstra 13
Eco-regional approaches and Agenda 21: a policy view
RD. van den Berg 33
SECTION B. RESOURCES AVAILABILITY AND
DEMAND STUDIES AT A GLOBAL SCALE
Scenarios for land use in Europe: agro-ecological options
within socio-economic boundaries
H.C. van Latesteijn 43
Natural resources and limits of food production in 2040
F.W.T. Penning de Vries, H. van Keulen and R Rabbinge 65
Prospects for world food security and distribution
P. Pinstrup-Andersen and R. Pandya-Lorch 89
Responses
W. Tims 113
P.S. Teng, M. Hossain and M.J. Kropff 123
SECTION C. LINKING DIFFERENT SCALE LEVELS
IN ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC STUDIES
Agro-ecological knowledge at different scales
L.O. Fresco 133
vi
Aggregating Economic Knowledge for use at national, regional,
sector, and farm level
W.G. Janssen 143
SECTION D. CASE STUDmS OF ECO-REGIONAL
APPROACHES AT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL SCALE
A systems approach to analyze production options for wheat
in India
P.K. Aggarwal, N. Kalra, S.K. Bandyopahyay and
S. Selvarajan 167
Options for sustainable agricultural systems and policy
instruments to reach them
A. Kuyvenhoven, R. Ruben and G. Kruseman 187
Sustainable agriculture in the Sahel? (integrated farming,
perennials and fertilizers)
H. Breman 213
Responses
R.D. Norton 237
K. Atta-Krah 249
P.G. Jones 257
SECTION E. INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS
Founding a systems research network for rice
H.EM. ten Berge and M.J. Kropff 263
Collaboration between national, international, and advanced
research institutes for eco-regional research
P.R. Goldsworthy, P.B. Eyzaguirre and S.W. Duiker 283
Developing a R&D Model for the humid tropical eco-region
in Asia
P.S. Teng, M. Hossain and K.S. Fischer 305
SECTION F. CASE STUDmS OF ECO-REGIONAL
APPROACHES AT THE FARMIENTERPRISE LEVEL
Designing optimal crop management strategies
P.K. Thornton, J.W. Hansen, E.B. Knapp and J.W. Jones 333
Sustainability and long-term dynamics of soil organic matter
and nutrients under alternative management strategies
H. van Keulen 353
vii
Evaluating policies for sustainable land use: a sub-regional
model with farm types in Costa Rica
R.A. Schipper, H.G.P. Jansen, J.J. Stoorvogel and D.M. Jansen 377
Responses
M.S. Dicko, N.G. Traore and K. Sissoko 397
J. Baidu-Forson, M.Y.K. Sivakumar and J. Brouwer 401
S. Fernandez-Rivera, P. Hiernaux, R. von Kaufmann,
M.D. Turner and T.O. Wtlliams 409
SECTION G. CASE STUDIES OF ECO-REGIONAL
APPROACHES AT THE CROP LEVEL
U sing systems approaches to design and evaluate ideotypes for
specific environments
M.J. Kropff, A.J. Haverkort, P.K. Aggarwal and P.L. Kooman 417
An eco-regional perspective of crop protection problems
J.C. Zadoks, P.K. Anderson and S. Savary 437
Site specific management on field level: high and low
tech approaches
J. Bouma, J. Brouwer, A. Verhagen and H.W.G. Booltink 453
Responses
R.A. Quiroz 475
1.0. Akobundu 481
DISCUSSIONS
General discussions 489
Closing panel discussion 495
Acronyms 497
List of participants 499
Subject index 503
Preface
In the next four decades, the globe will need to triple its food and feed
production, and almost all of the increase is needed for developing countries.
This observation has a socio-economic and a biophysical side.
On the biophysical side, increasing productivity is a necessity. Howev-
er, many intensive crop and animal production systems do not use natural
resources (land, water, biodiversity) in ways that are physically and economi-
cally sustainable. Much of global agriculture overuses the scarce suitable land,
and extends into fragile marginal lands. As a result, a spiral of unsustainabil-
ity occurs there with disastrous results. At the other end of the spectrum,
excessive use of inputs, too narrow crop rotations, and loss of biodiversity
prevail. Unsustainability in eco-technical terms is threatening food produc-
tion and food security. These trends are becoming more and more apparent.
Achieving sustainable use of natural resources is therefore an indispensable
component for increasing food production.
On the socio-economic side, increasing production requires broad-based
economic development, as poverty must be overcome for the landless to buy
food and for farmers to purchase external inputs to produce sufficient food.
Economic development takes place in communities and regions.
Three inseparable sides of the development triangle are therefore: a region-
al approach to reduction of poverty, efficient and sustainable use of natural
and human resources in the region, and increased food production. radition-
al component and commodity research addresses these issues too narrowly
and at too small a scale. Rural development needs an eco-regional approach
that integrates biophysical and socio-economic understanding of cropping
systems, livestock, the environment, and natural resources.
As natural resources management becomes a more important part of the
CGJAR's agenda, systems analysis and modelling capabilities are more need-
ed in CG-centers and national agricultural research systems. The integration
of insights in the biophysical and socio-economic aspects of commodity tech-
nology, cropping systems, livestock and natural resource management will
require these new capabilities. Experimentation and hypothesis testing will
more and more be based on the results of systems analysis and modelling
work, as will extrapolation of results of location specific observations.
The Directorate General for International Cooperation (Special Program
'Research') of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiated and sup-
ported generously the organization of this meeting. ISNAR and the Nether-
J. BoU17Ul et al. (eds.). Eco-regional approaches for sustainable land use
andjoodproduction. ix-x.
x
lands Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Nature Management also provid-
ed welcome support. The symposium emphasized that the rural development
triangle requires major changes in focus of international agricultural research,
and allowed discussion of some case studies in which eco-regional approach-
es are practiced. The meeting stimulated collaboration among participants
and wider application of natural resources research techniques discussed.
We hope that this book will inspire many other scientists and research
leaders.
F.W.T. Penning de Vries (AB-DLO)
R. Rabbinge (TPE-WAU)
H.G. Zandstra (CIP)
Introduction
The symposium "Bco-regional approaches for sustainable land use and food
production" was initiated by a request from the Directorate General for Inter-
national Cooperation (ooIS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Nether-
lands. The eco-regional approach to research is increasingly being embraced
by CGIAR Institutes and NARCs. This calls for periodic meetings where
methodology is discussed and improved, while results obtained are subject-
ed to discussions within interdisciplinary teams which are well versed in
systems analysis. This book presents invited papers, results of group discus-
sions and some general conclusions and recommendations on eco-regional
approaches.
Bco-regional studies emphasize the use of interdisciplinary approaches to
characterize relations between different agro-ecological production systems
and limited natural and socio-economic resources of the region. Each region
has specific characteristics to the extent that it can be considered as a relatively
homogeneous unit of analysis. As is made clear in the papers being presented,
the region is only one level to be considered, be it a level that is attractive
from a land use planning point of view. Data at farm level, however, form
the backbone for defining land use options, even at regional level, while the
regional level feeds analyses at higher levels ranging from a province or state
to the intemationallevel.
One element of the discussions during this symposium has been raised
many times before and deals with the most appropriate focus of eco-regional
studies in general. During the conference, emphasis was placed in several
papers on exploratory studies of the spatial effects of different agro-ecological
land-use scenario's in terms of defining realistic options for land use. Whether
or not such options can be realized depends on the socio-economic environ-
ment: services and infrastructure determine which enterprises can be sup-
ported and markets determine whether and to what extent it is worthwhile
to produce certain crops, lifestock or forestry products. Defining options that
are feasible from an agro-ecological point of view can certainly be illuminat-
ing, but lack of further research in terms of supporting the ultimate selection
process where many other factors have to be considered as well, can make
agro-ecological options by themselves rather academic.
Exploratory studies based on agro-ecology provide important "building
blocks" to be used or discarded when final decisions about land use are
derived by farmers and planners. For them, agro-ecology is only one element
J. Bouma et al. (eds.), Eco-regional approaches for sustainable land use
andjood production, xi-xiii.