SUSTAINABLE DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN THE HIMALAYA: IMPLICATIONS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION
Main Article Content
Abstract
The soil and land resources play a vital role in sustaining the local livelihoods of rural communities in the Himalaya. Most of the arable land has already been brought under cultivation, hence the ever-increasing demand for food and fiber has left farmers with no choice but to intensify agriculture. However, producing more crops and greater quantities of food, fiber and other materials on the same parcel of land can to soil fertility and productivity decline with overall degradation of land quality. Therefore, ways and means to intensify agriculture to enhance productivity without degrading the soil and land resource base have become imperative. Agro-forestry, agro-slivi-pastoral systems, and the adoption of a variety of crop, soil and water management and conservation practices offer potential to deliver multiple benefits without sacrificing the very resource upon which the human population depends. Presented herein are findings on approaches to sustainable intensification of agriculture and land management related to soil OM management and C sequestration for multiple benefits, and, agro-forestry as a crop diversification strategy with both livelihood, and climate change adaptation/mitigation benefits. The results indicate that sustainable soil management practices could lead to significant SOC accumulations (4-8 t/ha over 6 yrs). SOC and soil C stocks tend to increase with elevation due to cooler climate and slow decomposition rates. Carbon stocks for the 3 LU types was in the order CF>AF/LH>AG, suggesting that diversified cropping practices including agro-forestry have good potential sequester C while providing livelihood opportunities and climate adaptive capacity for local farming communities. Biochar amendment increased growth of both coffee plants and radish with mixed grass/weed biochar being most effective. Biochar application also significantly decreased emission of GHGs, especially N2O.
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How to Cite
BAJRACHARYA, R. M. et al.
SUSTAINABLE DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN THE HIMALAYA: IMPLICATIONS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION.
Journal of Mountain Area Research, [S.l.], v. 1, p. 40-52, aug. 2016.
ISSN 2518-850X.
Available at: <https://journal.kiu.edu.pk/index.php/JMAR/article/view/11>. Date accessed: 19 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.53874/jmar.v1i0.11.
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Section
Miscellaneous
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Papers accepted for publication become copyright of the Editorial Office, Journal of Mountain Area Research, Karakoram International University Gilgit, Gilgit-15100, Pakistan and authors will be asked to sign a copyright transfer agreement. Articles cannot be published until a signed copyright transfer agreement form has been received.
The work published in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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D. Hillel. Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, USA. 321pp. (1992)
D. Hillel. Soil in the Environment: Crucible of Terrestrial Life. Academic Press, MA, USA, 320pp. (2007)
R. Lal. Soil degradation and food security in South Asia. In: R. Lal, M.V.K. Sivakumar, S.M.A. Faiz, A.H.M. Mustafizur Rahman, K.R. Islam (Eds.) Climate change and Food Security in South Asia. Springer, (2011) 137-152.
E. Boserup. The conditions of agricultural growth: the economics of agrarian change under population pressure. London: George Allen &Unwin Ltd. 108p (1965).
G. Carswell. Agricultural intensification and rural sustainable livelihoods: A “think piece”. IDS Working Paper No. 64, (1997).
B.M. Dahal, B.K. Sitaula and R.M. Bajracharya. Sustainable agricultural intensification for livelihood and food security in Nepal. Asian J. Water, Environment and Pollution 5 (2008)1-12.
D. Tilman, C. Balze, J. Hill and B.L. Befort. Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture. PNAS 108 (2011) 20260-20264.
B.M. Dahal, I. Nyborg, B.K. Sitaula and R.M. Bajracharya. Agricultural intensification: food insecurity to income security in a mid-hill watershed of Nepal, Int’l. J. Agricultural Sustainability, 7 (2009) 249-260.
Matson, P.A., W.J. Parton, A.G. Power and M.J. Swift. Agricultural intensification and ecosystem properties. Science 277 (1997) 504-509.
H.D. Tacio. Sloping Agricultural Land Technology: a sustainable agroforestry shceme for the uplands. Agroforestry Systems, 22 (1993) 145-152.
R.M. Bajracharya, D.P. Sherchan, B.M. Dahal and N. Raut. Soil Management for Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in the Himalayan Region, IN: R. Lal and B.A. Stewart (Eds.) Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture, Taylor & Francis Publ., Boca Raton, FL, USA. (2014) 143-164.
L.T. Evans. Agricultural intensification and sustainability. Outlook on Agriculture 32 (2003) 83-89.
IBI [International Biochar Initiative]. Biochar. (2012), http://www.biochar-international.org/
A.E. Downie, L Van Zwieten, R.J. Smernik, S. Morris and R.R. Munroe. Terra PretaAustralis: Reassessing the carbon storage capacity of temperate soils. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 140 (2011) 137-147.
W.G. Sombroek, F.O. Nachtergaele and A. Hebel. Amounts, dynamics and sequestering of
carbon in tropical and subtropical soils. In Ambio, 22 (1993) 417-426.
J.A. Sandor and N.S. Eash. Ancient agricultural soils in the Andes of southern Peru. In Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 59 (1995) 170-179.
S.P. Sohi. Carbon storage with benefits. Science, 338:1034-1035. Publ. on-line by AAAS, (2012) http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/collection/ecology, accessed 10 January 2013. Regional workshop, Beijing 12-16 December 2005. FAO RAP Publ. 2006/27, (2006) pp. 41-57.
R.M. Bajracharya and K. Atreya. Carbon sequestration in upland farming systems of the Nepal midhills. Paper presented at the National Conference on Environment. Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, 22-24 June, (2007).
J. Chave, C. Andalo, S. Brown, M. A. Cairns, J. Q. Chambers , D. Eamus , H. Fo¨ lster , F. Fromard, N. Higuchi , T. Kira , J.-P. Lescure , B. W. Nelson, H. Ogawa , H. Puig , B. Riera and T. Yamakura. Tree allometry and improved estimation of carbon stocks and balance in tropical forests, Ecosystem Ecology, Oceologia 145 (2005) 87-99.
H.L. Shrestha, R.M. Bajracharya and B.K. Sitaula. Quantification of Forest and Soil Carbon Stocks under Different Management Practices in Nepal. Paper presented at the International Conference on People, Forests and Climate: Changing Paradigms, held 28-30 August, (2013). Pokhara, Nepal.
B.A. Linquist, V. Phengsouvanna and P. Sengxue. Benefits of organic residues and chemical fertilizer to productivity of rain-fed lowland rice and to soil nutrient balances. Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosyst. 79 (2007) 59-72.
N.V. Quyen and S.N. Sharma. Relative effect of organic and conventional farming on growth, yield and grain quality of scented rice and soil fertility. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 49 (2003) 623-629.
N. Dahal and R.M. Bajracharya. Effects of sustainable soil management practices on distribution of soil organic carbon in upland agricultural soils of mid-hills of Nepal. Nepal J Science and Technology 13 (2012) 133-141.
K.B. Karki. Improvement of animal dung, biogas, environment and soil fertility. Procs. Fifth Nat’l. Animal Science Convention, Livestock Development for Socio-economic Empowerment, Nepal Animal Science Assoc., (2004) 241-246.
D.P. Sherchan and K.B. Karki. Plant nutrient management for improving crop productivity in Nepal. In: Improving plant nutrient management for better farmer livelihoods, food security and environmental sustainability. Proceedings of a
regional workshop, Beijing 12-16 December 2005. FAO RAP Publ. 2006/27, (2006) 41-57.
X. P. Chen, Z-L Cui, P.M. Vitousek et al. Integrated soil-crop system management for food security. PNAS 108 (2011) 6399-6404. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1101419108.
S.N. Sharma and S.K. Sharma. Role of crop diversification and integrated nutrient management in resilience of soil fertility under rice-wheat cropping system. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 50 (2004) 345-352.