Promoting soil fertility, yield and income in smallholder agriculture of semiarid and arid Mediterranean regions by management of beneficial soil microbiota, conservation agriculture and intercropping. – ProSmallAgriMed

The project ProSmallAgriMed aims to promote the rational use of beneficial soil microbiota and improve small farmer agronomic practices to enhance productivity of inter-cropped perennial (cactus pear) and short-term species (field crops and vegetables) and promote synergistic cooperation between farmers and the value chain. The optimization of such practices in water limited environments will contribute to food security by (1) enhancing carbon sequestration and ensuring soil fertility; (2) expanding land coverage in space and time, thus supporting soil conservation and water use efficiency; (3) improving yields for consumption as food, feed, or industrial transformation; (4) increasing the nutritional quality of crop products; and (5) guaranteeing water and soil quality by decreasing chemical inputs. Such goals will be pursued by stimulating smallholder associations by increasing their expert knowledge and ability to interact each other and with various actors of the value chain, and by modulating new agronomic practices to be tested in real-life field conditions. The technological transfer to Maghreb farmers of know-how in the improvement of water efficiency and use of targeted beneficial soil microbial inocula will give farmers a competitive advantage in production of high quality products and promote the establishment of start-ups specialised in the production of targeted inocula, based on indigenous beneficial soil microbes. Results will provide a model that can be extended to the sustainable production of other crops in water-limited agro-ecosystems and will be instrumental in upgrading (i) the social and economic conditions of farmers and of the countries hosting new enterprises; (ii) the ecological conditions of semiarid and arid areas, through reduction of chemical inputs, soil erosion and water loss and increased resilience to climate change; and (iii) the ability of smallholder farmers to drain important agronomic information from similar areas.