Soil erosion and land degradation are critical challenges in Northern and Central West Tunisia. This report assesses the profitability of different forage mixtures used as a key rotation practice to mitigate these challenges. Various soil and water conservation (SWC) practices were put in place using a sample of 33 small farmers in the framework of the SWC@Scale-ProSol project. Cost-benefit and a partial budget analysis were conducted to assess the profitability of the implemented agricultural practices on the selected demonstration plots.

Water scarcity is already set to be one of the main issues of the 21st century, because of competing needs between civil, industrial, and agricultural use. Agriculture is currently the largest user of water, but its share is bound to decrease as societies develop and clearly it needs to become more water efficient. Improving water use efficiency (WUE) at the plant level is important but translating this at the farm/landscape level presents considerable challenges.

At the end of the module participants will be able to: to identify and demonstrate the Challenges of Climate Change to Soils and Fertility Management; to explain and demonstrate the concepts of Landscape Approach for Achieving Climate Smart Agriculture through Nutrient Management; to demonstrate and apply the Concepts and Principles of Soil Health and Soil Fertility Management for Crop Production, and to demonstrate the Approaches in Nutrient and Water Management for Sustainable Crop Production.

Scientists have declared that the earth is now “well outside the safe operating space for humanity” as a result of our destruction of the natural world. A recent report was the first to assess all nine planetary boundaries and found that six have been transgressed.

The Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Initiative supports the evaluation and scaling of mechanized direct seeding in Cambodia. To enhance its existing scaling strategy, a workshop on Innovation Packaging and Scaling Readiness (IPSR) was held on 25 August in Phnom Penh. The workshop focused on the challenges, solutions, innovation readiness and innovation use of mechanized direct seeded rice (mDSR) in Cambodia. Around 30 participants coming from the government, private sector and NGO attended the event.

“Groundwater is the hidden water resource,” says Dr Andrew Ross, an honorary research fellow at the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society. “It accounts for more than 99 percent of liquid freshwater on Earth, half of all drinking water and a quarter of the water used for irrigation, serving 38 percent of the world’s irrigated land.”

In Solomon Islands, many fishers, fish vendors and processors live and work in remote locations without
access to electricity, roads, clean water or landing-site facilities. Some may also lack the skills, knowledge or
capital to invest in new equipment or put their ideas into practice. As a result, fish is often handled in ways
that cause spoilage or contamination with dirt or bacteria, which can reduce income earned and make
consumers sick or hesitant to eat fish.

The impacts of climate change in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), are already well known to farmers. Over 2 million people in Kenya face threat of food insecurity due to climate change. Maize production is particularly vulnerable to climate change. It is projected to face not only 15% climate-related declines in yield without adaptation but also challenges from diminished cropland suitability and poor agronomic inputs and management; degraded environmental bases with declining soil fertility and degraded water systems are already apparent.

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is able to grow and complete its life cycle while being rooted in highly saline soils. Which of the many well-known salt-tolerance strategies are combined to fine-tune this remarkable resilience is unknown. The precise location, whether in the shoot or the root, where these strategies are employed remains uncertain, leaving us unaware of how the various known salt-tolerance mechanisms are integrated to fine-tune this remarkable resilience.