TWN Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture
9 November 2023
Third World Network

Dear Friends and Colleagues

Diversification in Rice Farming Increases Yields, Biodiversity and Incomes

A recent meta-analysis, published in Nature, summarized most of the available scientific evidence of the effects of agricultural diversification on the socio-economic and environmental aspects of global rice production. The results show that diversification can enhance rice economy, biodiversity and pest control while maintaining rice yield and most other environmental aspects.

The analysis found that diversification practices can help farmers spread their risks and is an economically viable strategy to provide a higher and more stable and diversified income, which can support resilience and adaptive capacity over time. Rice yields may be maintained through crop diversification, organic amendment, reduced tillage and integrated rice–animal systems. Crop diversification shows the highest potential to maintain or even increase yield by using cover cropping and rotation.

Most diversification practices promoted win–win scenarios, supporting crop yield and the provisioning of several ecosystem functions, which enhance the resilience of the rice system even in the face of environmental stress. Soil fertility, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration were consistently improved by all diversification practices, ensuring the long-term viability of rice farming systems. The study also found that agricultural diversification practices promoted arthropod abundance and diversity in rice fields, which resulted in lower crop damage.

Overall, the analysis found that agricultural diversification can increase biodiversity by 40%, improve economy by 26% and reduce crop damage by 31%. It thus provides an evidence-based synthesis on the use of diversification practices for sustainable and resilient rice production globally.

With best wishes,
Third World Network

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AGRICULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION PROMOTES SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT GLOBAL RICE PRODUCTION

He, X., Batáry, P., Zou, Y., Zhou, W., Wang, G., Liu, Z., … & Wanger, T. C.
Nature Food, 1-9
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00836-4
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00836-4
11 September 2023

Abstract

Rice is a staple food for half of the human population, but the effects of diversification on yields, economy, biodiversity and ecosystem services have not been synthesized. Here we quantify diversification effects on environmental and socio-economic aspects of global rice production. We performed a second-order meta-analysis based on 25 first-order meta-analyses covering four decades of research, showing that diversification can maintain soil fertility, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and yield. We used three individual first-order meta-analyses based on 39 articles to close major research gaps on the effects of diversification on economy, biodiversity and pest control, showing that agricultural diversification can increase biodiversity by 40%, improve economy by 26% and reduce crop damage by 31%. Trade-off analysis showed that agricultural diversification in rice production promotes win–win scenarios between yield and other ecosystem services in 81% of all cases. Knowledge gaps remain in understanding the spatial and temporal effects of specific diversification practices and trade-offs.