TROPICAL AGRICULTURE
There is great potential to restore carbon in tropical agricultural soils through manage-
ment practices that, in the right circumstances, can also increase productivity. Agrofor-
estry can offer particularly large carbon gains, although it can increase water demand.
Agricultural carbon sequestration policies will need to be tailored to particular circum-
stances to allow farmers to benefit.
Conventional agriculture: Agroforestry system
pasture
Net C uptake 1.5 - 3.5
(photosynthesis
Net C uptake minus respiration)
(photosynthesis
0,2
minus respiration)
C emission
C emission
(by erosion, food production)
(by erosion, food
C stored in
production and
above-ground biomass
decay of slash) 82
C stored in
above-ground biomass 4
C stored in 1 C stored in
below-ground
C stored below-ground
below-ground biomass
18
biomass
42 (soil and biomass)
C stored below-ground
63 (soil and biomass)
Carbon fluxes and stocks
(Tonnes of C per ha
per year for
fluxes, tonnes of C per ha for stocks) Source: Kirby and Potvin, 2007
Many agricultural areas in the tropics have suffered severe de- the atmosphere (Lal 2004a). Soil erosion, tillage and burning
pletion of their soil carbon stocks. Some soils in tropical agri- or removal of crop residues and livestock products reduce soil
cultural systems are estimated to have lost as much as 20 to 80 carbon levels and over time the soils have become degraded,
tonnes of carbon per ha, most of which has been released into often resulting in land abandonment.
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