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FARM-LEVEL ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE IN ECUADOR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2012

ABIGAIL NGUEMA ,
GEORGE W. NORTON ,
JEFFREY ALWANG ,
DANIEL B. TAYLOR ,
VICTOR BARRERA  and
MICHAEL BERTELSEN
ABIGAIL NGUEMA
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 205B Hutcheson Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0401, USA
GEORGE W. NORTON*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 205B Hutcheson Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0401, USA
JEFFREY ALWANG
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 205B Hutcheson Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0401, USA
DANIEL B. TAYLOR
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 205B Hutcheson Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0401, USA
VICTOR BARRERA
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 205B Hutcheson Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0401, USA
MICHAEL BERTELSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 205B Hutcheson Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0401, USA
*
†Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

Farm households in the Andean region of South America face serious livelihood challenges, including a poor natural resource base and declining agricultural yields. Conservation agriculture has been identified as a potential solution to environmental degradation and the associated poverty and food insecurity in the region. This study analyses the potential economic impact of conservation agriculture in two sub-watersheds in central Ecuador utilizing a linear programming model and data from experiments in farmer fields. The model found that specific cover crops, crop rotations and reduced tillage designed to reduce soil erosion and increase soil organic matter can lead to increased incomes for farm households in a time period of as short as two years. It appears that conservation agriculture practices have the potential to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor in Ecuador because conservation agriculture activities entered the revenue-maximizing model solution for both sub-watersheds.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 134 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

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