Tailor-made biochar systems: Interdisciplinary evaluations of ecosystem services and farmer livelihoods in tropical agro-ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Organic matter management is key to sustain ecosystem services provided by soils. However, it is rarely considered in a holistic view, considering local resources, agro-environmental effects and harmonization with farmers' needs. Organic inputs, like compost and biochar, could represent a sustainable solution to massive current challenges associated to the intensification of agriculture, in particular for tropical regions. Here we assess the potential of agricultural residues as a resource for farmer communities in southwestern India to reduce their dependency on external inputs and sustain ecosystem services. We propose a novel joint evaluation of farmers' aspirations together with agro-environmental effects of organic inputs on soils. Our soil quality evaluation showed that biochar alone

SUBMITTER: Belle SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8797206 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature