The overall objective is to enhance the productivity and sustainability of farming systems through a better understanding of the principles and practice of conservation agriculture. More specifically, the investigation should be focused to the individual and interactive effects of conservation tillage practices, residue management, crop rotations, nutrient and water inputs on soil organic matter stocks, resource use efficiency, agricultural productivity and environmental quality.
This CRP was formulated on the basis of recommendation of a Consultants’ Meeting held in Iguasu Falls, Brazil, in August 2003. Proposals for research contracts and agreements were received in 2004. The CRP team comprises ten participants, i.e. one research agreement (Mexico), one technical contract (Chile) and eight research contracts (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan). In addition, one individual contract (Kenya) provides further technical backstopping. The first Research Co-ordination Meeting was held in Vienna, 13-17 June 2005. The participants presented their work plan and the results they obtained so far. The on-going projects involve several cropping systems (legumes, small grains, cotton, maize), in monoculture or in rotations, different tillage practices ranging from conventional to no-tillage as well as fertilizing adaptations to investigate the impacts of these factors on carbon and nutrient (N and P) dynamics, water use efficiency and soil erosion using appropriate isotope techniques.
The second RCM was held in Rabat, Morocco, 11-15 September 2006. Results presented at this RCM demonstrate the advance of CRP. The major achievements were the quantitative data on effect of soil conservation agriculture on crop and soil gained through the use of nuclear technology (15N, 13C and neutron probe). The meeting outlined further priorities for next period of CRP, and formulated the work plan for future period of 2007-2008. Attention will be paid especially to standardisation of terminology, elaboration of standardised experimental protocols, implementation of modelling and collection of data on economic effects of soil conservation practices. The CRP has created so far an interesting database on soil-water-plant interrelationships in conservation agriculture. This database which will be expanded with the following years of the CRP will provide valuable information on the long-term impact of conservation agriculture. The third RCM will be held in Ankara, Turkey, on 14-18 April 2008.
