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The Quesungual
Slash and Mulch Agroforestry System (QSMAS) has contributed
to a
successful development strategy in improving rural livelihoods
in the Lempira Department, Honduras. This alternative to slash
and burn agriculture strongly builds on local knowledge and
has been a major production system to achieve food security
by resource poor farmers. The widespread adoption of the QSMAS
by more than 6,000 farmer households has been driven by a
two-fold increase in crop yields and cattle stocking rates
and significant reduction in costs associated with agrochemicals
and labor. Farmers recognize that a remarkable feature of
the QSMAS is the increased soil water holding capacity and
extended time of soil water availability thus preventing crop
failures. Besides making a substantial contribution to food
security, QSMAS has shown a remarkable degree of resilience
to extreme water deficits and also to excess water during
natural catastrophes. Farmers practicing this system reported
less soil, water and crop losses as a consequence of the El
Niño drought event in 1997 and the Hurricane Mitch
in 1998.
The main
goal of the project is to use QSMAS to improve livelihoods
of rural poor through increased water resources and food security
in sub-humid hillside areas, while maintaining the soil and
plant genetic resources for future generations. The main objective
is to determine the key principles behind the social acceptance
and biophysical resilience of QSMAS by defining the role of
the management components of the system and QSMAS' capacity
to sustain crop production and alleviate water deficits on
steeper slopes with high risk of soil erosion.
The specific
objectives are:
- To
assess socioeconomic and biophysical context of QSMAS and
to systematize
information into database.
- To
define QSMAS management concepts and principles and to develop
relevant
tools to monitor soil and water quality.
- To
evaluate and document potential areas suitable to QSMAS.
- To
develop tools for dissemination, adaptation and promotion
of the QSMAS
management strategies.
Understanding
the socio-economic and biophysical processes that drive the
adoption and successful performance of the QSMAS in sub-humid
areas in the tropics is of critical importance to be able
to derive principles that can be extrapolated to similar environments
elsewhere. Research activities are needed to link climate
and water productivity and to evaluate the impact of the QSMAS
on soil physical, chemical and biological processes and environmental
services (e.g., water availability). It is also important
to determine the socio-economic driving forces affecting adoption
and farmer decision-making in QSMAS. This knowledge will contribute
to further extrapolation of QSMAS to other sub-humid tropical
regions in Latin America and Africa.
Capacity
building through graduate and undergraduate student theses
and NARES
researchers will facilitate promotion of principles and concepts
of QSMAS in other sub-humid regions of Latin America. The
diversity of collaborating partners including local water
committees, the Integrated Soil Management (MIS) Consortium
in Central America, CIPASLA consortium in Colombia, national
universities, Berlin University of Technology in Germany (ARI),
the African Soil Fertility Network (AfNet), FAO and CIAT shows
great potential for institutional complementarities and synergies
to produce research outputs and disseminate research products
to achieve developmental impact.
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