After concluding his 40-year career as a mathematics professor, Geraldo Gálvez Orozco began looking for a new challenge and found it in farming. For the last 15 years, this seventy-nine-year-old has been farming in the Mezquital Valley in the mountains of southwest Hidalgo State, 60 kilometers north of Mexico City. Despite the region’s parched soils (the valley receives an average of only 527 mm of rainfall per year), about half the valley’s residents are farmers.
Since 1789, Hidalgo farmers have relied heavily on sewage water, referred to as ‘aguas negras’ or black water, to irrigate their cereal and fodder crops. However, within the next two years, the supply of black water for irrigation will decrease due to a new government initiative to purify Mexico City’s waste-water and reuse it within city limits. Therefore, to maintain the soil on their land, the farmers are switching from traditional agriculture practices to conservation agriculture-based methods.
From arithmetic to agronomy
Gálvez started experimenting with conservation agriculture eight years ago when he adopted the zero-tillage practice and also began leaving his crop residue, such as husks and cobs, on the surface of the ground of his three-hectare farm, where he grows maize and oats.
“Since switching to conservation agriculture, I have noticed a small increase in my yields compared to what I used to produce under irrigation, but I don’t do it for the yields,” he says. “Living in a climate like this, keeping my soils in good condition is my number one priority. That’s why I practice conservation agriculture.”
CIMMYT: Providing the tools to start a revolution
According to Fermín Hernández Méndez, a graduate of CIMMYT’s Conservation Agriculture-certification course and a technician with the Monsanto-ASGROW seed company, Gálvez isn’t the only farmer in the region changing his ways. “In Hidalgo, conservation agriculture is a revolution,” he says. “Farmers are adopting the practice because they know that a change is coming – a change that is most likely going to strain their soils.”
The work of CIMMYT’s Mexico-based Conservation Agriculture Program in the Mezquital valley, which is helping graduates like Hernández educate farmers on conservation agriculture practices, is funded principally by the Mexican Agricultural Secretariat under the MasAgro initiative and by Monsanto-ASGROW, as well as with support from numerous foundations and local organizations.
Sustainable practices
Conservation agriculture is based on three principles: frequent crop rotation to avoid the build-up of pests and diseases; reduced tillage, so soil is disturbed as little as possible; and covering the soil surface with crop residues and/or living plants. Such principles are widely adaptable and can be used for a variety of different crops in varied soil types and environments.
For example, during the 2009 drought in Mexico’s Central Highlands (where crops rely on precipitation alone), farmers who practiced conservation agriculture harvested up to 125 per cent more maize than those who farmed the traditional way. Combining higher yields with lower costs, conservation agriculture enabled farmers in rain-fed areas to earn an average net return of US$800 per hectare compared to the approximate US$400 per hectare that conventional highland farmers reaped.
A smooth transition
Although the benefits of conservation agriculture are numerous, it faces competition for crop residues, which often have great value as forage. Also, farmers are skeptical about moving away from farming methods that have been used for generations.
Hernández works to help farmers make the transition from the traditional farming methods. “It’s nothing more than a question of culture,” he replies, when asked why some farmers are hesitant to adopt the new principles. “It’s not that they don’t believe us or think we mean ill, it’s simply that they are afraid of change.”
The future
“I’m not worried for myself, I have all I need,” says Gálvez, as he crunches through the corn husks and stalks that blanket his fields. ”I am worried for my children. The land needs to stay healthy and fertile for the future generations.”
Read the full story Aguas negras: An agricultural revolutions buds in Mexico
Learn more about CIMMYT’s Conservation Agriculture Program
Video credit: CIMMYT