ECOAFRICA

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa - like the three countries targeted by the project: Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa - are characterized by significant population growth and endemic rural poverty. Food security is a major issue and a permanent challenge for the agricultural sectors of these countries. In these contexts, small family farms have limited access to resources and the use of external agricultural inputs is limited. Improving the production system therefore requires a strong use of the resources already available on the farm (manure, compost) while facing the many constraints that affect the production system (scarcity of land, soil quality, pests, instability climate change, not to mention social, political and economic pressures). These technical and social constraints must be taken into account when introducing new biomass management methods with a view to promoting sustainable family production systems.

Goals

The general objective of the project is the ecologically sustainable intensification of family production systems through more efficient use of resources and optimized ecological processes. EcoAfrica is a continuation of the BIOVA project and focuses on consolidating the systems already in place. It aims to promote the use of innovative agro-ecological techniques through optimized management of biomass from agriculture and livestock for sustainable ecological intensification in Africa.

Expected results

The project as a whole aims to achieve many objectives. Eco&Sols is more specifically interested in:

• characterize the effect of innovative agro-ecological practices on plant growth and yield parameters (including the presence of pests, pathogens and weeds, and disease development) and on key ecosystem services soils (conservation of soil biodiversity, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, etc.) by manipulating the main soil organisms in microcosm and field experiments.
• the quantification of fertility transfers at plot or farm scale through biomass transfers within the farm. Transfers are quantified, then modeled using tools such as Ecological Network Analysis (ENA) for better farm management.