This is an excellent initaitive that needs all possible support. That said, this initiative will only deliver if it sticks to its laudable objectives. The draft document appears to consist of two parts: one part objectively describing what are good soil management principles and practices, based on a good analysis of available knowledge (pages 1-15), followed by a political part, ‘pushing’ CA as the ultimate sustainable soil management paradigm, whereby facts and figures are often interpreted to suite one’s purpose (pages 16-end).
As mentioned in the introductory paragraphs, the voluntary guidelines should apply globally so why then try to push CA to all farmers? Fortunately in Sub-Saharan Africa, most policy-makers recognize the need for fertilizer (used efficiently) and varieties, in combination with good agricultural practices, including recycling or crop residues as is or via farmyard manure, and even tillage. After all, why has tillage been adapted nearly everywhere as a land management practice? The above is often summarized as Integrated Soil Fertility Management (which the document summarizes quite well on page 17), a paradigm promoted by major investors in African Agriculture and rightfully so!
Another – minor – observation is related to the selective use of publications. While CA is quite prominent in the reference list, papers such as Giller et al (2009) stressing competition for organic resources or Vanlauwe et al (2014) proposing a fourth principle to assure sufficient biomass production to kick-start CA are lacking.
Minor comments:
- There’s very often talk of improving the use efficiency of nutrients – which I fully support – but equally important is to use appropriate rates; the fertilizer industry refers to the 4Rs: the right type at the right place at the right rates and the right time.
- Page 4: Principle 3: peculiar statement for a definition: ‘…is a particular concern’.
- Page 9: Fertilizers are not acidic – ammonium-containing fertilizers can acidity the soils.
- Page 9: Acidification through N fixation is a minor process and never a reason not to promote legumes.
- Page 16: Pls add a 4th principle: appropriate fertilizer management (the 3 principles as such are ‘masked’ CA principles).
This is an excellent initaitive that needs all possible support. That said, this initiative will only deliver if it sticks to its laudable objectives. The draft document appears to consist of two parts: one part objectively describing what are good soil management principles and practices, based on a good analysis of available knowledge (pages 1-15), followed by a political part, ‘pushing’ CA as the ultimate sustainable soil management paradigm, whereby facts and figures are often interpreted to suite one’s purpose (pages 16-end).
As mentioned in the introductory paragraphs, the voluntary guidelines should apply globally so why then try to push CA to all farmers? Fortunately in Sub-Saharan Africa, most policy-makers recognize the need for fertilizer (used efficiently) and varieties, in combination with good agricultural practices, including recycling or crop residues as is or via farmyard manure, and even tillage. After all, why has tillage been adapted nearly everywhere as a land management practice? The above is often summarized as Integrated Soil Fertility Management (which the document summarizes quite well on page 17), a paradigm promoted by major investors in African Agriculture and rightfully so!
Another – minor – observation is related to the selective use of publications. While CA is quite prominent in the reference list, papers such as Giller et al (2009) stressing competition for organic resources or Vanlauwe et al (2014) proposing a fourth principle to assure sufficient biomass production to kick-start CA are lacking.
Minor comments:
- There’s very often talk of improving the use efficiency of nutrients – which I fully support – but equally important is to use appropriate rates; the fertilizer industry refers to the 4Rs: the right type at the right place at the right rates and the right time.
- Page 4: Principle 3: peculiar statement for a definition: ‘…is a particular concern’.
- Page 9: Fertilizers are not acidic – ammonium-containing fertilizers can acidity the soils.
- Page 9: Acidification through N fixation is a minor process and never a reason not to promote legumes.
- Page 16: Pls add a 4th principle: appropriate fertilizer management (the 3 principles as such are ‘masked’ CA principles).