FAO LAND AND WATER BULLETIN 11

FAO LAND AND WATER BULLETIN 11

Drought-resistant soils
Optimization of soil moisture for sustainable plant production

Proceedings of the electronic conference

organized by the
FAO Land and Water Development Division

15 November-18 December 2004

Technical editing by
Alexandra Bot
FAO Consultant

José Benites
FAO Land and Water Development Division


FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Rome, 2005

 

Table of Contents



Cover photographs:
Background: France. Courtesy of G. Shepherd.
Inset: Mulanje, Malawi. Courtesy of T.F. Shaxson.

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ISBN 92-5-105358-8
ISSN 1024-5703

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© FAO 2005


Contents

Foreword

List of acronyms

Acknowledgements

List of papers available on CD-ROM

Synthesis report of the FAO electronic conference "Drought-resistant soils: Optimization of soil moisture for sustainable plant production"

Topic 1 - Causes and consequences of soil moisture scarcity
Topic 2 - Creating drought-resistant soil: Technologies and impacts of improved soil moisture management at field level
Topic 3 - Environmental consequences of drought-resistant soil and improved soil moisture management
Topic 4 - Adequate tools and technologies to support efficient soil moisture management
Topic 5 - Conditions for adoption of drought-proofing practices by farmers

Abstracts of papers submitted during the conference, by topic

Topic 1 - Causes and consequences of soil moisture scarcity
Topic 2 - Creating drought-resistant soil - Technologies and impacts of improved soil moisture management at field level
Topic 3 - Environmental consequences of drought-resistant soil and improved soil moisture management
Topic 4 - Adequate tools and technologies to support efficient soil moisture management
Topic 5 - Conditions for adoption of drought-proofing practices by farmers

Discussion papers

1. Causes and consequences of soil moisture scarcity
2. Creating drought-resistant soil -technologies and impacts of improved soil moisture management at field level

Water infiltration
Evaporation
Water storage capacity of soil
Rainwater harvesting - Runoff farming
Conclusion
References

3. Environmental consequences of drought-resistant soil and improved soil moisture management
4a. Adequate tools and technologies to support soil moisture management

Soil moisture basics
Depth of soil moisture measurement
Methods for measuring soil moisture
Summary
References

4b. Using models for optimizing soil moisture management strategies

Specific considerations on modelling CA cropping systems
Discussion

5. Conditions for adoption of drought-proofing practices by farmers

Who is the customer?
Conditions for adoption of drought-proofing practices by farmers
Steps for implementing drought-proofing practices
Certification process for drought-proofing practices

Annexes

Annex 1: Conference programme
Annexe 2: List of contributors

FAO Land and water bulletins

Back cover


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