Siembra en contorno
(Honduras)
Description
Se siembran los cultivos en surcos paralelos en contra de la pendiente.
Establecimiento de una línea madre en contra de la pendiente con el aparato A. Siembra (y otros trabajos agrícolas) en surcos paralelos de esta línea. Una vez establecido, es fácil seguir estas estructuras (se ahorra mano de obra; mantenimiento es fácil). Otras prácticas estructurales (bareras vivas, acequias, barreras muertas) facilitan la siembra en contorno. La reducción de la pendiente por los surcos frena la escorrentía y la erosión del suelo. La siembra en contorno permite la siembra de más plantas por manzana que la siembra tradicional ("donde caiga") lo que aumenta adicionalmente la producción. Además es posible involucrar más familiares en la siembra por ser un trabajo más rutinario. Los surcos de las plantas retienen material orgánico, abono y sedimento. Se combina la práctica en el maíz con el Aporque Alto Continuo.
Location
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Location: La Paz, Honduras
No. of Technology sites analysed:
Geo-reference of selected sites
Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (3.85 km²)
In a permanently protected area?:
Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)
Type of introduction
-
through land users' innovation
-
as part of a traditional system (> 50 years)
-
during experiments/ research
-
through projects/ external interventions
Classification of the Technology
Main purpose
-
improve production
-
reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
-
conserve ecosystem
-
protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
-
preserve/ improve biodiversity
-
reduce risk of disasters
-
adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
-
mitigate climate change and its impacts
-
create beneficial economic impact
-
create beneficial social impact
Land use
Land use mixed within the same land unit: Ja - Agroforestry
-
Cropland
- Annual cropping: cereals - maize, cereals - sorghum, legumes and pulses - beans
- Tree and shrub cropping: pome fruits (apples, pears, quinces, etc.)
Number of growing seasons per year: 2
Water supply
-
rainfed
-
mixed rainfed-irrigated
-
full irrigation
Purpose related to land degradation
-
prevent land degradation
-
reduce land degradation
-
restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
-
adapt to land degradation
-
not applicable
Degradation addressed
-
soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion
-
chemical soil deterioration - Cn: fertility decline and reduced organic matter content (not caused by erosion)
-
water degradation - Ha: aridification
SLM measures
-
agronomic measures - A5: Seed management, improved varieties
Technical drawing
Technical specifications
Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs
Calculation of inputs and costs
- Costs are calculated:
- Currency used for cost calculation: lempira
- Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = 13.0 lempira
- Average wage cost of hired labour per day: 1.40
Most important factors affecting the costs
El único factor es la mano de obra necesaria para establecer los surcos por primera vez.
Establishment activities
n.a.
Maintenance activities
-
siembra en contorno (Timing/ frequency: poca de siembra / cada ciclo (año))
-
limpia, cosecha (Timing/ frequency: varias veces / cada ciclo)
Natural environment
Average annual rainfall
-
< 250 mm
-
251-500 mm
-
501-750 mm
-
751-1,000 mm
-
1,001-1,500 mm
-
1,501-2,000 mm
-
2,001-3,000 mm
-
3,001-4,000 mm
-
> 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
-
humid
-
sub-humid
-
semi-arid
-
arid
Specifications on climate
entre 1'800 y 2'000 mm, dependiendo de la altura
en el alto un mes, en las regiones bajas hasta 4 meses de sequía
Slope
-
flat (0-2%)
-
gentle (3-5%)
-
moderate (6-10%)
-
rolling (11-15%)
-
hilly (16-30%)
-
steep (31-60%)
-
very steep (>60%)
Landforms
-
plateau/plains
-
ridges
-
mountain slopes
-
hill slopes
-
footslopes
-
valley floors
Altitude
-
0-100 m a.s.l.
-
101-500 m a.s.l.
-
501-1,000 m a.s.l.
-
1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
-
1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
-
2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
-
2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
-
3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
-
> 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
-
convex situations
-
concave situations
-
not relevant
Soil depth
-
very shallow (0-20 cm)
-
shallow (21-50 cm)
-
moderately deep (51-80 cm)
-
deep (81-120 cm)
-
very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
-
coarse/ light (sandy)
-
medium (loamy, silty)
-
fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
-
coarse/ light (sandy)
-
medium (loamy, silty)
-
fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
-
high (>3%)
-
medium (1-3%)
-
low (<1%)
Groundwater table
-
on surface
-
< 5 m
-
5-50 m
-
> 50 m
Availability of surface water
-
excess
-
good
-
medium
-
poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
-
good drinking water
-
poor drinking water (treatment required)
-
for agricultural use only (irrigation)
-
unusable
Is salinity a problem?
Occurrence of flooding
Characteristics of land users applying the Technology
Market orientation
-
subsistence (self-supply)
-
mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
-
commercial/ market
Off-farm income
-
less than 10% of all income
-
10-50% of all income
-
> 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
-
very poor
-
poor
-
average
-
rich
-
very rich
Level of mechanization
-
manual work
-
animal traction
-
mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
-
Sedentary
-
Semi-nomadic
-
Nomadic
Individuals or groups
-
individual/ household
-
groups/ community
-
cooperative
-
employee (company, government)
Age
-
children
-
youth
-
middle-aged
-
elderly
Area used per household
-
< 0.5 ha
-
0.5-1 ha
-
1-2 ha
-
2-5 ha
-
5-15 ha
-
15-50 ha
-
50-100 ha
-
100-500 ha
-
500-1,000 ha
-
1,000-10,000 ha
-
> 10,000 ha
Scale
-
small-scale
-
medium-scale
-
large-scale
Land ownership
-
state
-
company
-
communal/ village
-
group
-
individual, not titled
-
individual, titled
Land use rights
-
open access (unorganized)
-
communal (organized)
-
leased
-
individual
Water use rights
-
open access (unorganized)
-
communal (organized)
-
leased
-
individual
Access to services and infrastructure
Cost-benefit analysis
Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive
Long-term returns
very negative
very positive
Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive
Long-term returns
very negative
very positive
Adoption and adaptation
Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
-
single cases/ experimental
-
1-10%
-
11-50%
-
> 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
-
0-10%
-
11-50%
-
51-90%
-
91-100%
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
To which changing conditions?
-
climatic change/ extremes
-
changing markets
-
labour availability (e.g. due to migration)
Conclusions and lessons learnt
Strengths: land user's view
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
References
Reviewer
-
Deborah Niggli
-
Alexandra Gavilano
Date of documentation: Mei 27, 2013
Last update: April 3, 2019
Resource persons
-
Kai Schrader - SLM specialist
Full description in the WOCAT database
Documentation was faciliated by
Key references
-
Felber & Foletti "Estudio sobre Agricultura Migratoria en la zona de Guajiquiro/Opatoro" - borrador. 1988.: DEH (COSUDE, DEZA), autores
-
Schrader, Kai "Bedeutung der Anreize für eine Nachhaltige Bodennutzung in Zentralamerika". in Bearb..: CDE
