Chapagain Tejendra, Raizada Manish N
Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph Guelph, ON, Canada.
Front Plant Sci. 2017 Mar 17;8:331. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.00331. eCollection 2017.
Improving land productivity is essential to meet increasing food and forage demands in hillside and mountain communities. Tens of millions of smallholder terrace farmers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America who earn $1-2 per day do not have access to peer-reviewed knowledge of best agronomic practices, though they have considerable traditional ecological knowledge. Terrace farmers also lack access to affordable farm tools and inputs required to increase crop yields. The objectives of this review are to highlight the agronomic challenges of terrace farming, and offer innovative, low-cost solutions to intensify terrace agriculture while improving local livelihoods. The article focuses on smallholder farmers in developing nations, with particular reference to Nepal. The challenges of terrace agriculture in these regions include lack of quality land area for agriculture, erosion and loss of soil fertility, low yield, poor access to agricultural inputs and services, lack of mechanization, labor shortages, poverty, and illiteracy. Agronomic strategies that could help address these concerns include intensification of terraces using agro-ecological approaches along with introduction of light-weight, low-cost, and purchasable tools and affordable inputs that enhance productivity and reduce female drudgery. To package, deliver, and share these technologies with remote hillside communities, effective scaling up models are required. One opportunity to enable distribution of these products could be to "piggy-back" onto pre-existing snackfood/cigarette/alcohol distribution networks that are prevalent even in the most remote mountainous regions of the world. Such strategies, practices, and tools could be supported by formalized government policies dedicated to the well-being of terrace farmers and ecosystems, to maintain resiliency at a time of alarming climate change. We hope this review will inform governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to draw attention to this neglected and vulnerable agro-ecosystem in developing countries.
提高土地生产力对于满足山坡和山区社区日益增长的粮食及饲料需求至关重要。亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲数以千万计的小农梯田农户，他们每天收入仅1至2美元，尽管拥有丰富的传统生态知识，但却无法获取经过同行评审的最佳农艺实践知识。梯田农户也难以获得提高作物产量所需的价格合理的农具和投入品。本综述的目的是突出梯田耕作的农艺挑战，并提供创新的低成本解决方案，以强化梯田农业，同时改善当地生计。本文重点关注发展中国家的小农，特别是尼泊尔。这些地区梯田农业面临的挑战包括缺乏优质农业用地、土壤侵蚀和肥力流失、产量低、难以获得农业投入和服务、缺乏机械化、劳动力短缺、贫困和文盲。有助于解决这些问题的农艺策略包括采用农业生态方法强化梯田，同时引入轻便、低成本且可购买的工具以及价格合理的投入品，以提高生产力并减少女性繁重的劳动。为了向偏远的山坡社区打包、交付和分享这些技术，需要有效的扩大推广模式。实现这些产品分销的一个机会可能是“搭便车”利用现有的零食/香烟/酒精分销网络，这些网络即使在世界上最偏远的山区也很普遍。此类策略、做法和工具可得到专门致力于梯田农户福祉和生态系统的正规政府政策的支持，以便在气候变化令人担忧的时期保持复原力。我们希望本综述能促使政府、非政府组织和私营部门关注发展中国家这个被忽视且脆弱的农业生态系统。
