PROMOTING BETTER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES an Initiative of WWF – Pakistan to Reduce the Ecological Footprint of Thirsty Crops By: Hammad Naqi Khan1, Arif H
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World Environment Day – June 2010 71 PROMOTING BETTER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES An Initiative of WWF – Pakistan to reduce the ecological footprint of thirsty crops By: Hammad Naqi Khan1, Arif H. Makhdum2, Zernash Jamil3, Asad Imran4, A. Rasheed Bhutto5 and Lall Khan Babar6 1 Director Programmes, World Wide Fund for Nature - Pakistan 2 Director Sustainable Agriculture, WWF - Pakistan 3 Project Officer, Sustainable Agriculture Programme, WWF - Pakistan 4 Manager, Sustainable Agriculture Programme, WWF - Pakistan 5 Project Coordinator Bahawalpur, Sustainable Agriculture Programme, WWF - Pakistan 6 Project Coordinator T.T. Singh, Sustainable Agriculture Programme, WWF - Pakistan 72 World Environment Day – June 2010 ABSTRACT Sugarcane and cotton are two of the major water intensive and polluting crops, respectively, grown in Pakistan. Sugarcane consumes more water per unit area of crop than any other crop and cotton accounts for 70% of all pesticides applied in Pakistan. As part of its Global Conservation Programme, WWF aims to help make cotton and sugarcane cultivation part of a sustainable industry so as to make its production environment friendly and to reduce its impacts on priority ecosystems. WWF – Pakistan, Pakistan‟s largest environmental organisation, took a step and launched the “Better Management Practices for Water Thirsty Crops” project to ensure sustainable sources of freshwater to support livelihoods of poor rural communities. The project created a mechanism for increasing water availability and reduced pollution by rationalizing use of water and pesticides in cotton and sugarcane production through developing site specific BMPs (Better Management Practices). BMPs are practices which optimize the three pillars of sustainability: social responsibility, environmental integrity and economic viability by marrying together the financial requirements of agriculture, such as high yield, with environmental and social concerns, such as water and pesticide use. The BMPs validated at research centres were subsequently tested in a number of farmer fields as well to check their suitability in project areas of Bahawalpur for cotton and Faisalabad for sugarcane. For widespread dissemination of BMPs; participatory approaches based on ToT (Training of Trainers), FToF (Farmers Training of Facilitators) and FFS (Farmer Field School) activities were implemented. Under ToT activities 52 MFs (Master Facilitators) were trained. Subsequently, these MFs established 120+ FFS with more than 2200 farmers, over an area of 24,000 acres to apply these BMPs on cotton and sugarcane growing areas. The BMP cotton farmers made crop management decisions which resulted in 39% reduction in synthetic fertilizers, 38% in irrigation water and 47% in pesticides with a cost-benefit ratio of 1:3.2 for BMPs as compared with 1:2.5 of non-BMPs; likewise the BMP sugarcane farmers saved 25% reduction in synthetic fertilizers, 18% in irrigation water and almost 100% in pesticides with cost benefit ratio of 1:1.82 for BMP as compared 1:0.9 of non- BMP with around 30% increase in gross margins on average. KEY WORDS: Better Cotton Initiative (BCI); Better Sugar Initiative (BSI); Better Management Practices (BMP); Integrated Pest Management (IPM); Farmer Field School (FFS); Agro Eco-System Analysis (AESA); Pakistan INTRODUCTION Water scarcity is a serious concern for Pakistan and will become one of the most pressing issues faced by the nation in coming years. Water availability and quality in Pakistan are already unable to meet the economic, social, livelihood and environmental needs of the country. According to the International Water World Environment Day – June 2010 73 Management Institute (IWMI), Pakistan will require more than 100% the present amount of water by 2025 unless water use patterns are altered. Water scarcity is largely due to wasteful agricultural practices which consumes over 95% of the water abstracted from the Indus for irrigation and due to inefficient agricultural system only 35% reaches the crop. Agriculture is also a major polluter of water courses due to excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Agrarian economy contributes around 24% of the GDP, where major crops like wheat, sugarcane, cotton and maize account for 41% of value added. Sugarcane and cotton are the most water intensive and polluting crops, respectively, grown in Pakistan and are also part of the economic mainstay of the country, with 68% of the population reliant on agriculture for its livelihood, including some of the poorest communities in the country. Cotton is a particularly important export commodity, contributing 10% to the GDP and 55% to foreign exchange earnings of the country. On the other hand, overuse of water for agriculture means limited flow for people and nature downstream in the Indus Delta, impacting on ecosystems, people and species, which ultimately leads to the water economy running dry. According to estimates, the water shortage in the agricultural sector will be 29% by 2010 and 33% by 2025. The water table is rapidly dropping every year: in Islamabad, it has dropped more than 50 feet since 1986 and more than 20 feet since 1993 in Lahore. These facts put an agricultural country like Pakistan at the brink of physical water scarcity. Thus the overall objective of WWF - Pakistan behind this initiative was to “ensure sustainable sources of clean freshwater are available to support the livelihoods of poor communities in Pakistan”, in particular, helping downstream communities and small farming communities who have received a poor allocation of water, by promoting Better Management Practices so that they need less water. The action set out to contribute towards this goal by providing methods and mechanisms to reduce the pollution caused by irrational use of agrochemicals, increase water efficiency (more crop per drop), ensure an enabling environment to encourage the private sector to purchase sustainable commodities for ultimately improving livelihood of farming communities. The specific objective was that by 2010, 80% of small and large-scale sugarcane and cotton farmers in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur, who participated in project activities, apply Better Management Practices (BMPs), with socio-economic and environmental benefits, underpinned by policy and private sector mechanisms. METHODOLOGY To achieve the specific objective, the initiative developed and applied better methods of growing sugarcane and cotton in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur. 74 World Environment Day – June 2010 These are BMPs which are agricultural practices, optimising the three pillars of sustainability: social responsibility, environmental integrity and economic viability by marrying together the financial requirements of agriculture, such as high yield, with environmental and social concerns, such as water and pesticide use. For appropriate selection and dissemination of BMPs, relationships / partnerships were developed with different public sector institutes during the early stages of the initiative, namely; the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI); University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; Nuclear Institute of Biology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE); Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI); Agronomic Research Institute (ARI); Lahore Compost; Shakarganj Sugar Mills; and government departments. The BMPs developed at research centres were then subsequently tested in a number of farmer fields, to check their suitability in different areas and soil types. These trial plots were established in Bahawalpur for cotton and Faisalabad for sugarcane. The trials tested a wide range of techniques and approaches, examining: different indigenous innovative fertility, pest and irrigation management techniques; susceptibility to different soil types; use of compost to enhance fertility, seed rates and plant population; types and methods of fertilisers; bio-pesticides; Integrated Pest Management (IPM); harvesting; and marketing techniques. Farmers‟ profitability was captured and recommended packages of BMPs for sugarcane and cotton determined. Participatory Approaches for the Implementation and Dissemination of BMPs: Training of Facilitators (ToF) and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) were established in project areas as an effective means for the dissemination of BMPs. The Training-of-Trainers approach was used to strengthen the capacity of a number of farmers to become graduate Master Farmer Facilitators (MFF). The MFFs subsequently facilitated fellow farmers in understanding their localized issues and the solutions available through adopting the most appropriate BMPs. The FFS approach is used to gain the initial support of BMPs by a core group of farmers in a small area, and to convince them of the benefits, as they see the results for themselves and go through a supported process of learning and discovery. In a FFS, farmers are trained through Farmer Participatory Technology Development and Dissemination (FPTD&D), during which farmers learn how to make and record detailed observations, how to conduct simple experimentations to solve complex issues and learn to analyze and interpret the results of the findings. It is an intensive approach, with groups of farmers coming together regularly during the cotton season, facilitated by a trained facilitator (a World Environment Day – June 2010 75 fellow farmer) to assess different BMPs, and discuss problems and their solutions. The trial and demonstration plots are essential to validate the BMPs, and show the results to farmers and others in a participatory