Towards assessing the resource criticality of agricultural livelihood systems

cg.contactg.meylan@usys.ethz.chen_US
cg.contributor.centerInternational Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDAen_US
cg.contributor.centerPolytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulassoen_US
cg.contributor.centerSwiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich - ETH Zurichen_US
cg.contributor.centerZurich University of Applied Sciences - zhawen_US
cg.contributor.crpCGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems - DSen_US
cg.contributor.crpCGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals - GLDCen_US
cg.contributor.funderInternational Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDAen_US
cg.contributor.projectCommunication and Documentation Information Services (CODIS)en_US
cg.contributor.project-lead-instituteInternational Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDAen_US
cg.creator.idLe, Quang Bao: 0000-0001-8514-1088en_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107385en_US
cg.isijournalISI Journalen_US
cg.issn1470-160Xen_US
cg.journalEcological Indicatorsen_US
cg.subject.agrovocsustainable intensificationen_US
cg.subject.agrovocmaterial flow analysisen_US
cg.volume124en_US
dc.contributorThiombiano, Boundia Alexandreen_US
dc.contributorLe, Quang Baoen_US
dc.creatorMeylan, Grégoireen_US
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-23T00:05:18Z
dc.date.available2021-03-23T00:05:18Z
dc.description.abstractDespite the many advantages of sustainable intensification (SI), the level of adoption of SI practices in African smallholding farms is still very low, highlighting the need for adequate methods for monitoring farm sustainability. Research on SI and related poverty alleviation strategies focus either on the “problems” or on the “solutions” for agricultural livelihood systems (ALS) with separate sets of indicators developed accordingly. Bridging the two approaches, we propose an indicator set to assess the criticality of a resource to ALSs in order to support smallholders, decision-makers, and practitioners in the process of SI. The set indicates what problems an ALS faces in the form of resource supply risks and the ALS’s ability to successfully cope with such problems, i.e., how resilient it is to these supply risks. We apply the ALS criticality approach (ALSCA) to macronutrients in three different ALS types in the village cluster of Pontieba, Ioba Province, Burkina Faso. Two criticality indicators are highlighted. First, the three ALS types are not facing equal nitrogen supply risks, when the latter is informed by depletion time. The depletion time indicates the time until which a resource stock is depleted at the current mining rate. The average depletion time of soil nitrogen stocks ranges from some 10 to 165 years. Second, the reliance on own resources is an indicator measuring resilience to supply restriction. In Pontieba, regardless of macronutrient, reliance on own nutrients never surpasses 50% when ALS averages are considered. The study showed that the ALSCA can contribute to the implementation of SI practices through support at four levels: 1) providing a holistic view on the ALS to avoid problem-shifting and enable prioritization, 2) providing options to reduce resource criticality, 3) mutual learning between ALSCA practitioners and smallholder farmers through knowledge integration, and 4) facilitating policy coherence from local to national levels thanks to the ALSCA’s applicability on different scales.en_US
dc.formatPDFen_US
dc.identifierhttps://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/downloadmelspace/hash/d15c8b87ecd379090c9c95c96775d47d/v/a129a3d359f4faed083b47004ebda54fen_US
dc.identifier.citationGrégoire Meylan, Boundia Alexandre Thiombiano, Quang Bao Le. (1/2/2021). Towards assessing the resource criticality of agricultural livelihood systems. Ecological Indicators, 124.en_US
dc.identifier.statusOpen accessen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/12726
dc.languageenen_US
dc.publisherElsevier (12 months)en_US
dc.rightsCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0en_US
dc.sourceEcological Indicators;124,(2021)en_US
dc.subjectagricultural livelihood systemen_US
dc.subjectcriticality assessmenten_US
dc.subjectsystemic approachen_US
dc.subjectsolution-oriented indicatorsen_US
dc.titleTowards assessing the resource criticality of agricultural livelihood systemsen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dcterms.available2021-02-01en_US
mel.impact-factor4.958en_US

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