2023/12/14 by Jean‐Marc Blazy, Blazy, Jean-Marc
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION #AGROECOLOGIE #AGROECOLOGY #AGRONOMIE #AGRONOMY #BANANAS #BANANIER #BRACHARIA DECUMBENS #Banana Cultivation and Research #CARIBBEAN #CROP ROTATION #CROPPING SYSTEMS #EXPLOITATIONS AGRICOLES #FARM SYSTEMS #FARM TYPOLOGY #FRENCH OVERSEAS DEPARTMENTS #FRENCH WEST INDIES #IMPATIENS SP #INNOVATION ADOPTION #INNOVATION AGRICOLE #INTERCROPPING #PINEAPPLE #PLANTE DE SERVICE #POIS SABRE #PRODUCTION ECONOMICS #SERVICES PLANTS #SYSTEMES DE CULTURE
paper · doi:10.17180/68q1-sm65
openalex publication_date 2023/12/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
In Guadeloupe and Martinique, banana production is challenged to better combine economic and environmental performance. While different agro-ecological innovations are being developed, we evaluated a range of innovations and their conditions of adoption in different types of farm. Field surveys and simulations show that small family farms should rotate bananas fields with a culture of pineapple or a service crop like Brachiaria decumbens. Nevertheless, some obstacles related to small areas coupled with liquidity constraints may limit adoptions. To overcome these constraints, we propose the introduction of economic measures to support conversion. Generally, innovative systems studied lead to a substitution of pesticide use by more work. In the case of intercropping techniques, this substitution generally reduces income of farmers. In mountain areas, spontaneous fallow practices and implementation of intercropping with legume Canavalia ensiformis or Impatiens sp seem most appropriate. For large farms, whose economic and environmental performance are already relatively high, the cropping system based on the use of Brachiaria decumbens in fallow and then in intercropping seems the most promising option.