Open Questions and Research Needs in the Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in the Mediterranean Area
Michele Rinaldi, Ana Sofia Almeida, Jorge Álvaro Fuentes, Mohamed Annabi, Paolo Annicchiarico, Mirko Castellini, Carlos Cantero‐Martínez, Maria Gabriela Cruz, Giuseppe Dalessandro, Thomas K. Gitsopoulos, Danilo Marandola, Mathieu Marguerie, Salah Lamouchi, Mourad Latati, Antonio Lopez Francos, Rachid Moussadek, Luciano Pecetti
Abstract
This article aims to provide a review of major challenges and research needs for the diffusion of conservation agriculture (CA) and the improvement of crop–soil–water conditions in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. A multidisciplinary study and a participatory approach are at the basis of an international project of research and innovation action, “Research-based participatory approaches for adopting conservation agriculture in the Mediterranean Area-CAMA”. It aims to understand the reasons and the research needs that limit a large CA diffusion in the Mediterranean countries. CAMA aims to provide significant advances to CA through multidisciplinary research at the field and farm scales (with main emphasis on smallholder), encompassing a socio-economic analysis of the reasons that obstacle the CA diffusion, legume crop improvement as a component of improved CA cropping systems, and a network of long-term experiments on CA and soil characteristic modification. Its results will be available to scientific and farming communities.