Slash-and-burn remains one of the most common land preparation methods in tropical agriculture, used by both smallholders and large-scale farmers for annual and perennial cropping. However, this practice causes rapid soil fertility decline, biodiversity loss, erosion, and vulnerability to weeds, pests, and diseases. Dynamic Agroforestry (DAF), provides a fire-free and input-free alternative that combines productivity with ecological regeneration.<\/p>\n
Between 2014 and 2018, ECOTOP conducted upland rice trials in Alto Beni, Bolivia. Without external inputs or crop rotation, DAF achieved average yields of 1,560 kg\/ha of
\npeeled, dried rice, compared to conventional slash-and-burn systems where yields rarely
\nexceeded 1,000 kg\/ha in the first year and declined thereafter. Labor demands for initial establishment were comparable, while ongoing weeding requirements were reduced. At scale, over 250 farmers in Bolivia, more than 2,000 in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, and hundreds in Ecuador have adopted DAF principles without burning for cocoa, yam, rice, beans, and maize and perennial crops. In Ecuador, the UNOCACE cooperative converted over 600 ha of cocoa to no-burn systems, while in Ghana, the Sankofa project supported 400 ha of diversified cocoa-based DAF.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slash-and-burn remains one of the most common land preparation methods in tropical agriculture, used by both smallholders and large-scale farmers for annual and perennial cropping. However, this practice causes rapid […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[353,78,352,254,354,348,346,350,205,351,347,355,349,342],"class_list":["post-8269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publications","tag-bolivia-ecuador-ghana-ivory-coast","tag-cocoa-farming","tag-disease-resistance","tag-dynamic-agroforestry","tag-ecological-regeneration","tag-fungal-to-bacterial-ratio","tag-no-burn-agriculture","tag-slash-and-burn-alternative","tag-smallholder-farmers","tag-soil-compaction","tag-soil-food-web","tag-sustainable-tropical-agriculture","tag-upland-rice-production","tag-zero-external-inputs"],"yoast_head":"\n