The biophysical and socio-economic dimension of yield gaps in the southern Amazon - A bio-economic modelling approach
Authored by Hampf C Anna, Carauta Marcelo, Latynskiy Evgeny, Libera A D Affonso, Monteiro Leonardo, Sentelhas Paulo, Troost Christian, Berger Thomas, Nendel Claas
Date Published: 2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2018.05.009
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Abstract
Farmers in the State of Mato Grosso are among Brazil's most productive
soybean, maize and cotton producers, but are still far away from
achieving potential yields as measured on experimental sites. The
objective of this study was to decompose yield gaps in the Southern
Amazon into their biophysical and socio-economic dimensions. In order to
achieve this, the process-based MOdel of Nitrogen and Carbon dynamics in
Agro-ecosystems (MONICA) was coupled with the Mathematical
Programming-based Multi-Agent Systems (MPMAS) software. Soybean, maize
and cotton yield gaps were simulated for five macro-regions in Mato
Grosso considering different climatic, edaphic and crop management
conditions. The impact of socio-economic constraints on crop yields was
assessed in form of full factorial design in which each factor was set
to a baseline and unconstrained level. The simulation results show that
biophysical yield gaps (due to water and nutrient deficit) account for
24\% of potential yields (Y-p), whereas an unrestricted access to
machinery, labour, credit and technological innovation would lead to a
reduction of yield gaps by 6.1\% and an expansion of cropland by 22\%.
Yield gaps can be reduced through improved water- and nutrient
management, appropriate cultivar-sowing date combinations and in part by
a removal of socio-economic constraints. However, each solution comes
with its own limitation either in form of increased pressure on limited
environmental resources or incompatibility with individual farmer
objectives. Future yield gap closure will depend on the access to arable
land, environmental regulations preventing further deforestation as well
as political and economic incentives for sustainable intensification.
Tags
Agriculture
Climate
Integrated assessment
Dynamics
Productivity
China
patterns
systems
Determinants
Crop
Basin
Potential yield
Water-limited yield
Crop modelling
Agent-based
modelling
State of mato grosso
Soybean yield
Brazil evidence
Monica model