Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns
The use of limited organic resources to build resilience to drought in semi-arid regions was investigated using systems modelling. The study focused on Halaba in Ethiopia, drawing on biophysical and socio-economic data obtained from a survey of farms before, during and after the 2015/16 El Niño even...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2b1b |
| _version_ | 1827870483095224320 |
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| author | Jo Smith Dali Nayak Fabrizio Albanito Bedru Balana Helaina Black Shiferaw Boke Alison Brand Anja Byg Mengistu Dinato Mulugeta Habte Paul Hallett Thomas Lemma Argaw Wolde Mekuria Awdenegest Moges Alemayehu Muluneh Paula Novo Mike Rivington Tewodros Tefera May Vanni Getahun Yakob Euan Phimister |
| author_facet | Jo Smith Dali Nayak Fabrizio Albanito Bedru Balana Helaina Black Shiferaw Boke Alison Brand Anja Byg Mengistu Dinato Mulugeta Habte Paul Hallett Thomas Lemma Argaw Wolde Mekuria Awdenegest Moges Alemayehu Muluneh Paula Novo Mike Rivington Tewodros Tefera May Vanni Getahun Yakob Euan Phimister |
| author_sort | Jo Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of limited organic resources to build resilience to drought in semi-arid regions was investigated using systems modelling. The study focused on Halaba in Ethiopia, drawing on biophysical and socio-economic data obtained from a survey of farms before, during and after the 2015/16 El Niño event. Using a simplified weather dataset to remove noise from weather fluctuations, a ten yearly El Niño was demonstrated to cause significant long-term degradation of soil, reducing crop yields by 9%–14% and soil carbon by 0.5%–4.1%; more frequent droughts would increase this impact. Farmers in Halaba usually apply manures to soils untreated. Counteracting the impact of El Niño on soil degradation is possible by increasing application of untreated manure, but would result in a small net cost due to loss of dung as fuel. By composting manure its recalcitrance increases, allowing soil degradation to be counteracted without cost. The best option investigated, in terms of both food and fuel security, for households with access to water and finances needed for anaerobic digestion (500–2000 US$), is to use manure to produce biogas and then apply the nutrient-rich bioslurry residue to the soil. This will result in a significant benefit of over 5000 US$ per decade from increased crop production and saved fuel costs. However, many households are limited in water and finances; in that situation, the much cheaper pyrolysis cook-stove (50 US$) can provide similar economic benefits without the need for water. The biochar residue from pyrolysis is highly recalcitrant, but pyrolysis results in loss of nutrients, so may result in lower yields than other uses of manures. This may be countered by using biochar to capture nutrients from elsewhere in the farm, such as from animal housing or compost pits; more work is needed to quantify the impact of treated biochar on crop yields. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:58:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-37fd8be260964bb7828ea8df22263a8c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:58:25Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-37fd8be260964bb7828ea8df22263a8c2023-08-09T14:44:52ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262019-01-0114808500410.1088/1748-9326/ab2b1bTreatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returnsJo Smith0Dali Nayak1Fabrizio Albanito2Bedru Balana3Helaina Black4Shiferaw Boke5Alison Brand6Anja Byg7Mengistu Dinato8Mulugeta Habte9Paul Hallett10Thomas Lemma Argaw11Wolde Mekuria12Awdenegest Moges13Alemayehu Muluneh14Paula Novo15Mike Rivington16Tewodros Tefera17May Vanni18Getahun Yakob19Euan Phimister20School of Biological Science, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomSchool of Biological Science, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomSchool of Biological Science, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomInternational Water Management Institute , Accra, GhanaEcological Sciences, James Hutton Institute , Aberdeen, United KingdomDepartment of Natural Resources, Southern Agricultural Research Institute , Hawassa, EthiopiaSchool of Biological Science, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomSocial, Economic and Geographical Science Group, James Hutton Institute , Aberdeen, United KingdomEnvironment, Gender & Development Studies, Hawassa University , Hawassa, EthiopiaDepartment of Natural Resources, Southern Agricultural Research Institute , Hawassa, EthiopiaSchool of Biological Science, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomEnvironment, Gender & Development Studies, Hawassa University , Hawassa, EthiopiaInternational Water Management Institute , Addis Ababa, EthiopiaEnvironment, Gender & Development Studies, Hawassa University , Hawassa, EthiopiaEnvironment, Gender & Development Studies, Hawassa University , Hawassa, EthiopiaSocial, Economic and Geographical Science Group, James Hutton Institute , Aberdeen, United Kingdom; Land Economy, Environment & Society, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh, United KingdomInformation and Computational Sciences, James Hutton Institute , Aberdeen, United KingdomEnvironment, Gender & Development Studies, Hawassa University , Hawassa, EthiopiaBusiness School, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomDepartment of Natural Resources, Southern Agricultural Research Institute , Hawassa, EthiopiaBusiness School, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, United KingdomThe use of limited organic resources to build resilience to drought in semi-arid regions was investigated using systems modelling. The study focused on Halaba in Ethiopia, drawing on biophysical and socio-economic data obtained from a survey of farms before, during and after the 2015/16 El Niño event. Using a simplified weather dataset to remove noise from weather fluctuations, a ten yearly El Niño was demonstrated to cause significant long-term degradation of soil, reducing crop yields by 9%–14% and soil carbon by 0.5%–4.1%; more frequent droughts would increase this impact. Farmers in Halaba usually apply manures to soils untreated. Counteracting the impact of El Niño on soil degradation is possible by increasing application of untreated manure, but would result in a small net cost due to loss of dung as fuel. By composting manure its recalcitrance increases, allowing soil degradation to be counteracted without cost. The best option investigated, in terms of both food and fuel security, for households with access to water and finances needed for anaerobic digestion (500–2000 US$), is to use manure to produce biogas and then apply the nutrient-rich bioslurry residue to the soil. This will result in a significant benefit of over 5000 US$ per decade from increased crop production and saved fuel costs. However, many households are limited in water and finances; in that situation, the much cheaper pyrolysis cook-stove (50 US$) can provide similar economic benefits without the need for water. The biochar residue from pyrolysis is highly recalcitrant, but pyrolysis results in loss of nutrients, so may result in lower yields than other uses of manures. This may be countered by using biochar to capture nutrients from elsewhere in the farm, such as from animal housing or compost pits; more work is needed to quantify the impact of treated biochar on crop yields.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2b1borganic resource useresiliencesoil degradationcompostbioslurrybiochar |
| spellingShingle | Jo Smith Dali Nayak Fabrizio Albanito Bedru Balana Helaina Black Shiferaw Boke Alison Brand Anja Byg Mengistu Dinato Mulugeta Habte Paul Hallett Thomas Lemma Argaw Wolde Mekuria Awdenegest Moges Alemayehu Muluneh Paula Novo Mike Rivington Tewodros Tefera May Vanni Getahun Yakob Euan Phimister Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns Environmental Research Letters organic resource use resilience soil degradation compost bioslurry biochar |
| title | Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns |
| title_full | Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns |
| title_fullStr | Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns |
| title_full_unstemmed | Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns |
| title_short | Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns |
| title_sort | treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi arid regions improves resilience to el nino and increases crop production and economic returns |
| topic | organic resource use resilience soil degradation compost bioslurry biochar |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2b1b |
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