5.Enviroment and Agroecosystems

Blog 5 Environment and Agroecosystems.

Brazil is an big tropical country that lies in the equatorial zone. This means that the temperatures are high (on average temperature of 26 Celsius degrees) as well as the humidity and that there is plenty of rain. Most rainfall falls during the winter and spring with 130 mm of rain per month. These conditions are ideal if you want to grow bananas.

Most farmers count on rainfall as their irrigation method. And the big problem they have is that they don’t conserve their water. This means that they have an shortage during the drought periods.   

Another problem the banana farmers face is that their banana plantations are located on hillsides or sloping pieces of land. A big negative effect of this is that it is conductive to soil erosion. So to tackle both problems they came up with drains. Drains are gutters that are dug by the farmers. They form an linked system that catch the fallen rain and transport it safely away from the field into an water facility. Often an pond or lake dug by the farmers. By redirecting the water through the drains they make sure no important soil is flooded. The water that is stored can be used again during periods of drought.   

 

 Example of a drain

Although the Brazilian farmers benefit a lot from the rainfall is it also their biggest downfall. Sometimes is the rainfall to much to handle and then the fields are simply flooded. The crops ‘drown’ and the harvest is destroyed.

Banana field destroyed by rain

Bananas are cultivated as an monocultural crop. They need lots of attention and provide a lot of shading what makes it hard for other plants to grow on the same field. But to improve carbon sequestration I would try to cover the ground with another small crop that can easily grow between the banana trunks this is called cover cropping. Cover cropping is the use of crops such as clover and small grains for protection and soil improvement between periods of regular crop production. Cover crops improve carbon sequestration by enhancing soil structure, and adding organic matter to the soil.

Conventional banana production in Brazil is not sustainable. It depends on frequent and heavy use of pesticides to reduce pests, increase yields, and to come close to the quality standards of importing countries. This has resulted in the contamination of soil, water, and the bananas. The Brazilian government should invest more in teaching the farmers how to grow bananas in an more sustainable and healthy way. The impact and pressure would grow if we make the consumers in the EU and US aware of it.