Dear readers, agricultural ecosystems are anthropogenic systems, that is, their origin and maintenance are associated with the activity of man who has transformed nature to obtain mainly food; at present, agroecosystems are generally divided into their fundamental parts and try to enhance each of them separately, but as long as they continue to be approached in this way it is impossible to increase production and solve problems such as: increased incidence of pests that attack crops and animals, erosion, soil compaction and loss of biodiversity, just to name a few of the situations that occur in the agricultural sector.
In this sense, Altieri y Nicholls (2000), pointed out that there are alternatives to the conventional methods of "Modern Agriculture", in recent years more sustainable production models have been applied; where farms are determined by the level of interactions between their various biotic and abiotic components. These interactions that move the system are those in which certain products or results of one component are used in the production of others, for example, weeds as livestock feed, manure used as fertilizer in crops, crop stubble as mulch and mixtures of manure and straw for compost.
To implement the aforementioned alternatives, one of the first steps is to identify the area of action, share the agroecological paradigm, identify limitations, potentialities and opportunities to elaborate an agroecological design together with the producers, where the best agricultural practices are carried out with the objective of integrating the components of the ecosystem and increasing the type of biodiversity that can reinforce the sustainability of agroecosystems through an ecological balance (biological pest control, nutrient cycling, renewable energy and soil conservation, among others). As described by economist Max-Neef (1993), "The priority is clear. What is needed is to make every effort to articulate the interrelationship of the parts of the system. Only an articulated system can aspire to be a healthy system. And only a healthy system can aspire to the self-dependence and actualization of its constituent subjects".
With this type of alternatives it is possible to optimize the use of locally available inputs by combining the different components of the farm system, e.g. plants, animals, soil, water, climate and people, in such a way that they complement each other and have the greatest possible synergistic effects, replacing external inputs with nutrient recycling.
In conclusion, the objective of an agroecological design is to integrate the components in such a way as to increase the overall biological efficiency, preserve biodiversity and maintain the productive and self-regulating capacity of the agroecosystem. It is also to design an agroecosystem that mimics the structure and function of local natural ecosystems, that is, a system with a high species diversity and a biologically active soil, a system that promotes natural pest control, nutrient recycling and a high soil cover that prevents losses of soil resources.
| Bibliographic references |
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Altieri, M. and Nicholls, C. 2000. Agroecology. Theory and practice for sustainable agriculture. Mexico. First edition. 169 p.
Max-Neef, M. 1993. Development on a human scale. Concepts, applications and some reflections. Uruguay. Editorial Nordan-Comunidad. 148 p.
Greetings @amestyj I can observe certain methodological approaches that do not allow replication in other production units, among these principles I can mention the following:
Under these components can be achieved as you express in your writing, "an agroecological design with producers, where the best agricultural practices are carried out with the aim of integrating the components of the ecosystem and increase the type of biodiversity that can enhance sustainability".
Very good contribution my brother, be well ....
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Greetings my dear friend @madrigbg, thank you for your valuable comment brother, as we all know many times producers resist changes in production units, therefore, this methodology will allow us to share with the rural sectors some production alternatives more friendly to the environment, the alternatives will depend on the resources available to the ecosystem and the area where it is located.
See you later, brother, have a great start of the week.
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Greetings @amestyh, certainly maintaining a balance in our agrosystem is essential for the viodiversity of our planet, doing the work of the field with new techniques to reduce the impact on the agrosystem is essential, as it has been shown that using for example the worm humus creates a biofertilizer with greater benefit to the plant and soil.
Thanks for your contribution my friend.
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Hello my dear friend @carlir, there are many ecological alternatives to maintain the balance of ecosystems, which in the end end up being more economical which generates more profitability, but the producer has become accustomed to synthetic packages because they can have short-term production, unaware that in the long term will have to increase their cost by the appearance of pests and soil degradation.
I think we can use synthetic products but in a rational way, see you later brother, have a great start of the week.
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Greetings friend, really many of the modern agricultural techniques have enhanced the appearance of pests, perhaps by altering the balance between species favoring a specific one, it is necessary to change the agricultural paradigna and address more sustainable systems and best practices that benefit the population without creating a large burden on the ecosystem.
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Greetings my dear friend @emiliomoron, what you mention is true, what happens is that the use of synthetic products indiscriminately breaks the nutritional balance of the plant, causing an excessive accumulation of nutrients in the leaves which causes insects to be attracted as they begin to feed on it, the true nutritional balance is broken, known as trophobiosis.
See you later brother, have a great start of the week.
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Hi @amestyj
Very good scheme "identify limitations, potentials and opportunities to elaborate an agroecological design", this you mention is very important when making the decision to promote agroecological agricultural or livestock practices, it is the best way to establish real actions that tend to increase production in balance with mother nature.
Best regards, be well.
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Hello my dear friend @lupafilotaxia, you are right this would be a good methodology to begin to share the agro-ecological paradigm, I think you can get to make field demonstrations to producers to observe that these alternatives can be effective. Apart from that we can identify some indicators that allow us to make some decisions.
See you later, have a great start of the week.
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greetings @ amestyj
To carry out the agricultural processes with an agroecological management has demonstrated that it works, but there is a rejection of some producers product of large companies that produce agrochemicals, which have influenced their mentality to make them believe that they are better and more productive, however product of the economic difficulties of the country and the economic recession of the same, producers have had to seek alternative production and agroecology has been essential to maintain their crops in a good way.
Thank you very much for sharing
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Greetings brother @dagalan, thank you for your valuable comment, you made a perfect x-ray of what happens in Venezuela, many producers got used to the accelerated production with the use of synthetic products, which created a dependence on them and a resistance to change towards healthier alternatives with the ecosystems. Today the united nations organization knows that we are going through problems due to global warming, therefore, they have promoted great research that promotes agroecological alternatives.
The change is progressive but it has to be done, see you later brother and have a great start of the week.
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Very well said friend agriculture, has been long existing and humans survival mostly depends on food production there is need to always device improve means of making crop farming more productive thanks for sharing.
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Hello friend, agriculture is the fundamental axis of any nation, unfortunately it has become one of the means of environmental pollution because of the production methods used, the idea is to cultivate with ecological awareness, with the rational use of agrochemicals and also the use of local resources with agricultural potential.
So long, have a great start of the week.
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