project - Research and innovation
Developing Intercropping for agrifood Value chains and Ecosystem Services delivery in Europe andSouthern countries
Contexte
A growing number of farmers are opting for intercropping practices, cultivating two or more crops on the same field at the same time. The approach is considered sustainable, eco-friendly and potentially economically sound. However, it is not without challenges. The EU-funded IntercropValueES project will design and develop intercropping systems that can be managed in ways that ensure productivity and profitability along the entire agrifood chain. Bringing together scientists, farmers and actors representing food value chains from 14 countries (on 3 continents) and from different organisations and stakeholders, the project will work on 13 co-innovation case studies. The aim is to design locally relevant and innovative agrifood chains. Project findings will be used to improve methods and tools for intercrop management.
Objectives
IntercropValueES aims to exploit benefits of intercropping to design and manage productive, diversified, resilient, profitable, environmentally friendly cropping systems acceptable to farmers and actors in the agri-food chain. It will develop both a scientific research action for better understanding and modelling intimate intercrop functioning and a detailed analysis of lock-ins and levers at the value chain level to identify credible solutions that can be adopted by farmers and value chain actors. As a multi-disciplinary and multi-actor project, it brings together scientists and local actors representing food value chain. It includes 27 participants from 15 countries (3 continents) from a wide diversity of organizations and stakeholders.
Activities
IntercropValuES organizes its activities in 6 objectives, to:
1) support the design of locally relevant, legitimate and innovative agri-food chains, through 13 Co-Innovation Case Studies;
2) understand the functioning and G*G*E*M interactions allowing the selection of compatible ideotypes and the optimization of machinery and management strategies for maximizing the productivity and delivery of ecosystem services with better soil health and mitigation of GHG (meta experiment 15 sites);
3) produce novel information, improved methods and tools for intercrop management and the assessment of their performance and profitability;
4) unravel intercropping performance by modelling;
5) analyze grain and sanitary quality of cereal-legume intercrops, functional qualities for food processing and new products,
6) uncover key barriers and levers at the value chain level to boost development, and identify new market avenues and solutions to increase economic added-value of intercrops.
The Comms and Dissemination Plan is designed to diffuse outcomes widely by adapted channels to different end-users, such as farmers, advisors, food processing companies and machinery industries, retailers and citizens, academia, policymakers and influence bodies.
Project details
- Main funding source
- Horizon Europe (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Type of Horizon project
- Multi-actor project
- Project acronym
- IntercropValuES
- CORDIS Fact sheet
- Project contribution to CAP specific objectives
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- Environmental care
- Preserving landscapes and biodiversity
- Protecting food and health quality
- Fostering knowledge and innovation
- Project contribution to EU Strategies
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- Achieving climate neutrality
- Reducing the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides and/or use of more hazardous pesticides
- Fostering organic farming and/or organic aquaculture, with the aim of increased uptake
- Reducing nutrient losses and the use of fertilisers, while maintaining soil fertility
- Improving management of natural resources used by agriculture, such as water, soil and air
- Protecting and/or restoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services within agrarian and forest systems
EUR 7 419 463.75
Total budget
Total contributions including EU funding.
EUR 7 419 463.75
EU contribution
Any type of EU funding.
Ressources
10 Practice Abstracts
Problem
Weed management in agriculture is an important issue and relies on the use of synthetic herbicides which have detrimental environmental & health impacts.
Solution
Use of intercropping with different crop species and high density, can suppress the development of weeds and so, improve the weed management in a sustainable way (Gu et al., 2021), as well as enhance the water use efficiency (Pankou et al., 2021).
Benefits
Intercropping can reduce the growth of weeds, achieve higher yields (Gu et al., 2021), increase water use efficiency and improve the sustainability of the cropping systems.
Practical recommendations
Seed bed preparation:
- Seed bed should not be too fine-grained after cultivation.
Varieties:
- Select cultivars (wheat and grain legume) with the same maturity time taking the local seed costs and availability on the market into account
Sowing densities, machinery:
- Mix the seeds 75% grain legume and 25% wheat (compared to the standard crop density of both crops) in the seed tank, check that the mixture is homogenous and sow with a conventional seeder.
- Use same row spacing as for cereals.
- Matching seed depth and homogeneity of the mixture should be checked.
Weed control:
- Mixtures with different crop species gave even better weed suppression.
Harvest:
- Adjust height of harvester to pick up grain legumes close to ground
Other recommendations:
- Separate a part of your field before sowing and apply the mixture.
- Cultivate the rest of the field as usual and compare the intercrop to the sole cereals and /or legumes.
- We recommend that you test this method under your own farm conditions. You can communicate your experience with us as well as with other farmers, advisors, and scientists.
Problem
Smallholders’ farmers of Inhambane and Gaza region in Mozambique are subsistence-oriented, with most of households suffering from seasonal food insecurity. When engaged in the national strategy of transitioning from subsistence farming to more market-oriented farming, farmers are advised by extension agents to shift from intercropping (Figure 1a and 1b) to input-intensive growing of sole crops. A growing number of farmers in areas where the market is becoming attractive may respond favourably to this advice, which is then economically sound for farmers on the short term but is not sustainable on the long-term. However, to date this is an emerging issue as a majority of farmers are still subsistence oriented with limited access to market or poorly connected to a value chain.
Solution
Researchers from the University Eduardo Mondlane, CIRAD, National Extension Services, agricultural private companies and the representative of smallholder farmers, discussed the farmers and the extension services perspectives. The participants agreed that the extension services need to adjust their strategy based on farmers’ profile and practices towards reconciling the agricultural economic growth and long-term sustainability. All actors need to acknowledge the soundness of intercropping as a traditional practice of subsistence farming and promote the use of modern and profitable forms of intercropping, instead of transitioning toward sole cropping.
Benefits
- Increased food diversity and security.
- Enhanced biodiversity, nutrient cycling, soil protection against erosion and atmospheric nitrogen capture by legume compared with sole crops like cereal and cassava.
- Reduced weeds pressure, integrated diseases and pest control maintained at high level when compared to sole crops.
- Reduced needs for organic or inorganic fertilizer inputs compared to sole crops.
- Reduced labour demand at farm scale.
Practical recommendations
- First, conduct a participatory diagnosis to collectively assess the drivers and farmers’ motives of the intercropping practices in Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane provinces of Mozambique.
- Second, identify higher productivity, “modern” intercropping models consistent with farmers’ profile and needs, based on literature review and the results of the experiments conducted in the framework of the IntercropVALUES case study.
- Third, co-design extension strategies to advance the advantage of modern intercropping through facilitated discussions among extension agents, farmers’ representatives, and researchers to establish efficient knowledge flow (Figure 2, all referred actors engaged in one of these facilitated discussions).
- Fourth, adopt a “coaching” approach as an alternative to top-down approach and provide farm-tailored advice based on active listening and consistent with the context, farmers’ profile, and needs, strengthening the peer-to-peer process, whereby facilitating sharing of practical experiences.
Problem
Rapeseed is often considered as a low-quality commodity, produced using lots of inputs and harming insects. This is not the case when rapeseed is grown organically in an intercropping system. There is a need to communicate this better.
Solution
A group of farmers are collaborating with a processor to launch a new, organic culinary oil product. Its marketing will communicate the environmentally friendly benefits of intercropping.
Benefits
- Builds demand for a new crop that is profitable, fits into crop rotations, and improves soil health and fertility.
- Develops a profitable, local supply chain supporting local businesses.
- Creates a healthy product, produced in an environmentally beneficial way.
Practical recommendations
These steps are applicable to any new intercropped product:
- Collaborate with growers to support their knowledge exchange to better understand intercropping production, and to support product marketing.
- Conduct market and consumer research to determine potential demand for the product.
- Understanding your product’s unique selling point (USP), how it competes in the market.
- Research and adhere to the legal and food safety regulations.
- Produce a 5-year Business Plan,
- Create a brand, the packaging, labelling, price point and appropriate messaging.
- Develop a marketing strategy and promotional materials.
- Create a route to market /distribution plan.
- Ensure consistent product quality and assurance to specification.
- Monitor sales, gather consumer feedback and take appropriate action as required.
Problem
While traditional pasta has become a staple food worldwide, several public health strategies agree that their nutritional qualities could be improved. The quality improvement through the crop diversification has not been sufficiently studied in semi-arid climate and organic production.
Solution
Intercropping winter wheat with field pea in organic systems enables to increase the protein content of the cultivated cereal, and so its nutritional quality.
Benefits
Intercropping cereals with legumes in organic systems allows a better crop use of resources, brings a higher biodiversity in the agricultural landscape, and delivers ecosystems services (soil fertility and health, C sequestration and water regulation). These benefits can add extra value to the produced pastas.
Practical recommendations
Variety selection:
- An early ripening wheat variety to match with a winter field pea variety. Make sure that the selected legume matches the harvesting period of wheat (e.g., Mraz in Serbia).
Seeding density:
- Wheat at 70% and legume at 30% of their recommended sole-crop densities.
Seeding time:
- 2-3 weeks after the optimum sowing date to avoid pest and diseases proliferation, especially in organic agriculture.
Weed control:
- Usually not needed in autumn, but weeds can be controlled in spring by harrowing.
Harvest:
- Adjust the harvesting period of winter wheat and field peas to the same time frame and set harvester grain sieves to the pea size.
Sorting:
- Use proper separation methods afterwards in order to leave as little pea seeds as possible (<5%).
Problem
Weeds are the main pest in sugarcane cropping systems. While the French legislation aims to reduce the use of pesticides by half by 2030 with the Ecophyto Plan, the sugarcane pest is still mostly controlled through herbicide application.
Solution
Sowing service crops in the sugarcane inter-row, combined with a sugarcane variety adapted to the area, optimized straw management and manual weed management, allows for improved weed control, and hence, the reduction of herbicide use (Figure 2).
Benefits
Service crops can reduce herbicide use by up to 80% while providing the same level of weed control as conventional methods. Nevertheless, the proposed solution may result in minor crop yield loss (> 4%) and imply increased labour time.
Practical recommendations
- Potential service crops species: cowpeas and crotalaria species (available from local suppliers) or jackbeans (must be self-produced).
- Inter-row sowing density: 15 kg ha-1 for cowpea, 25 kg ha-1 for crotalaria and 70 kg ha-1 for jack bean.
- Within 7 days after sugarcane harvest, a pre-emergence herbicide treatment is applied. The treatment prevents weed establishment for a 30-day period which allows the service crop to be sown at the ideal moment.
- Services crops are sown 45 days after sugarcane harvest to limit their negative impact on sugarcane growth.
- For mechanical sowing of service crop: the straw is placed manually on the row before sowing as seeders can’t pass through it.
- For manual sowing of the service crop: farmers must push the straw aside and use a hoe to sow service crops, in 1 or 2 lines in the middle of the inter-row.
- After sowing service crop, weeds are removed by hand only, particularly in the row. The weeding frequency depends on the pressure in the field (on average 4 times over a 5-month period).
- Service crops disappear under the sugarcane canopy at 7-8 moths of sugarcane growth.
Problem
Buckwheat and lentil are interesting spring crops for providing gluten-free food and maintaining soil fertility, but the severe pressure exerted by the parasitic Dodder weed (Cuscuta ssp) makes these crops hard to grow.
Solution
Intercropping buckwheat/lentil with linseed reduces the weed pressure when compared to sole crop cultivation (Figure 1 and 2) This technique has been developed and tested by an organic farmer in Tuscany, Italy.
Benefits
Linseed covers the soil quickly which hinders Dodder’s growth and reduces the need for chemical or mechanical weed control. It also improves water use efficiency in heavy soils and enables a higher crop diversification at farm level.
Practical recommendations
Sowing densities:
- 40 kg/ha of lentil with 25kg/ha of linseed (Figure 1).
- 60 kg/ha of buckwheat with 35kg/ha of linseed (Figure 2).
Soil preparation:
- No tillage is required before the cultivation.
Sowing period:
- Both crops, buckwheat/lentil with linseed are sown together with a wheat seed drill.
Harvesting period:
- Lentil and buckwheat have a shorter life cycle than linseed. The harvest occurs at lentil/buckwheat maturity, with a small loss of linseed yield. In this intercropping system, the main role of linseed is weed control rather than production.
- The two crops are harvested together with the same combine harvester.
Sorting phase:
- Linseed can be easily sorted using a seed cleaner (rotary cleaner, vibratory or gravity separator) and sold as food or used as seed for the next cultivation.
Problem
In organic and conventional pulse crops, bruchid larvae penetrate green seeds and develop by feeding on them (Figure 1). This leads to a reduction in harvest quality and an average yield loss of 20%, varying from year to year and region to region.
Solution
The solution proposed to limit the development of bruchids, tested on lentils, consists of early harvesting of the grains, immediate cleaning and sorting of the grains followed by elimination of the bruchids by heat, freezing or asphyxiation.
Benefits
This improves the grower's gross margin by limiting yield losses due to grains eaten by bruchids after harvest and also improves the quality of batches intended for human consumption.
Practical recommendations
- Harvest the lentils as soon as possible and dry the batches if necessary.
- Immediately clean and sort the grains to remove all impurities, including grains containing bruchids (Figure 3).
Kill the bruchids with one of three options: (i) freezing, (ii) heating or (iii) asphyxiating using special hermetically sealed bags saturated with CO2.
Problem
If intercropping (IC) is so little explored today, it is probably due to the difficulty of answering all the questions raised by the practice: Which species to combine? When and how to sow? How to manage pests and diseases, weed control operations and phytosanitary treatments? What opportunities are possible? And for which environmental, health or economic purposes?
Solution
The founders of Interplay© chose to develop a participatory serious game to help farmers explore IC.
It has two objectives:
- Exploring a wide range of cereal-legume IC scenarios sown simultaneously and identifying the most appropriate intercrops based on the context and goals of the players.
- Ensuring that players become more knowledgeable about intercropping.
Benefits
Interplay© is a tool for reflection enabling assessment of the ecosystem services provided by cereal-legume intercropping, grown under different crop management systems, both organic or conventional.
It can also be a source of inspiration for advisors to create their own tool to help farmers choose IC, to conduct workshops, increase players’ knowledge and create a space to exchange knowledge.
Practical recommendations
- Download manual to read complete instruction of the game:
- Use the game in small groups (5 players).
It is often more effective and productive to work on real cases, and so it is necessary to collect information from participants before the workshop (choice of plot, type of soil, climatic conditions, etc.).
- If used in bigger group (>10 people), implement individual reflection time and collective sharing sequences.
- This serious game can be used linked to a “causal tree” method to identify problems encountered to use intercrops.
Problem
Legumes such as peas and lentils, when grown as sole crops, are weak competitors for nutrients and water, prone to lodging and sensitive to adverse environmental conditions.
Solution
Intercropping legumes with cereals is a solution for the described problem as it increases resource use efficiency. Research on intercropping of pea & barley and lentil & oat, in Sweden (Scania province) has shown promising results in terms of grain yields, weed suppression and reduced lodging. (Figure 1, 2 and Table 1).
Benefits
- Reduced legume lodging (increased harvestable yield)
- Reduced weed pressure
- Improved nitrogen use efficiency
- Improved cereal grain quality
Practical recommendations
Sowing densities:
- Pea/barley: pea at 67% and barley at 33% of their recommended sole-crop densities (Figure 1).
- Lentil/oat: 100% lentil and 20% oat of their recommended sole-crop sowing densities (Figure 2).
To promote legume grain yield, prioritizing the legume in the seed mixture prevents excessive competition from the cereal for water, nutrients (except nitrogen) and sunlight.
Varieties for simultaneous sowing and harvest:
- Modern varieties of barley (Planet) and oat (Belinda, Nike, Symphony) can be sown and harvested at the same time as intercropped pea (Clara) or lentil (Anicia).
Important to note: During water stress conditions (e.g. drought), there is tendency for grain legumes to mature earlier than cereals, posing a risk of pod shattering and loss of legume grains before the cereal is ready for harvest.
Management of crops:
- Mechanical weeding was not necessary in our trials.
Harvest:
- Crops can be harvested simultaneously as mixtures.
Post-harvest sorting and cleaning:
- Pea/barley: due to different grain sizes, this mixture can be easily sorted with classical equipment (vibrating, screen cleaner, indented cylinder, gravity cleaner).
- Lentil/oat: more time-consuming sorting due to similar diameters and densities of the seeds. Gravity cleaner and optical sensors are efficiently used in commercial production for separation of such similar grains.
Problem
Simultaneously and efficiently producing organic highquality wheat for bread-making and a grain legume to address the demand for indigenous plant-based proteins for food.
Solution
Intercropping winter wheat and faba bean can stabilize the performance of both crops. Sowing density and cultivars need to be adjusted based on the intended harvest goal. The proposed solution fits best in organic farming systems with limited supply of manure.
Benefits
Intercropping allows for a decrease in nitrogen fertilizers, better weed management, increase in pollinators and secure crop productivity. The quality of the wheat proved to be equal or higher than in sole crop.
Practical recommendations
Choice of varieties:
- Faba bean: early winter varieties to match wheat maturity.
- Wheat: tall, late winter varieties
Sowing depth:
- Simple hopper: 5-6 cm
- Double hopper: 2-3 cm for wheat and 5-6 cm for faba bean
Sowing density by production goal:
- Bread wheat:
- Weat density (seeds/m2): 400 (90% sole crop density).
- Faba bean density (seed/m2): 10 (30% sole crop density).
- Mix:
- Weat density (seeds/m2): 360 (80% sole crop density).
- Faba bean density (seed/m2): 14 (40% sole crop density).
- Faba Bean
- Weat density (seeds/m2): 270 (60% sole crop density).
- Faba bean density (seed/m2): 20 (60% sole crop density).
Fertilization:
Adjust input according to wheat sowing density (e.g 80% wheat fertilization if sowing density is 80% of sole crop density).
Weed management:
2-3 passes with a harrow, as needed.
Harvest:
Best when wheat is dry and faba bean is still slightly moist to limit the amount of broken legume grains. Reduce harvester’s speed to limit breakage of grains.
Post-harvest treatment:
Separation of the crops at the collection centre and drying of faba beans. Separate sorting and storage.
Valorization:
Agree upfront with a collection point to value wheat for bread-making. For now, faba bean is primarily used for animal feed but demand for food is growing.
Contacts
Project email
Project coordinator
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CENTRE DE COOPERATION INTERNATIONALE EN RECHERCHE AGRONOMIQUE POUR LEDEVELOPPEMENT - C.I.R.A.D. EPIC
Project coordinator
Project partners
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INICIATIVAS INNOVADORAS SAL
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WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
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UNIVERSITAET KASSEL
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FEDERATION NATIONALE DES COOPERATIVES D'UTILISATION DE MATERIEL AGRICOLE
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CONSIGLIO PER LA RICERCA IN AGRICOLTURA E L'ANALISI DELL'ECONOMIA AGRARIA
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UNIVERSIDADE EDUARDO MONDLANE
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INSTITUTO NAVARRO DE TECNOLOGIAS E INFRAESTRUCTURAS AGROALIMENTARIAS SA
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ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
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UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
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SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET
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INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURE MOVEMENTS EUROPEAN UNION REGIONAL GROUP
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ROSKILDE UNIVERSITET
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KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
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RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN
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UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN
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UNIVERZITET U NOVOM SADU, POLJOPRIVREDNI FAKULTET NOVI SAD
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ERCANE GIE
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INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT
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RETE SEMI RURALI
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FONDEN BUSINESS LF
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