Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Long-term Europe-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Titre : 4CE-MED : Camelina : a Cash Cover Crop Enhancing water and soil conservation in MEDiterranean dry-farming systems

Pays/Région : Algeria ; France ; Greece ; Italy ; Morocco

Date : Start date 2020-05-01 // End date 2023-10-31

Identifiant : 229-4CE-MED
Type de projet : Development and innovation oriented (research) project

Contexte
Mediterranean dry-farming systems mostly rely on cereals generally grown as monocultures or in rotation with very few species. These systems are very intensive in term of agronomic inputs resulting in negative impacts on the environment. Crop diversification can considerably help prevent soil erosion, nitrogen leaching and land pressure and, at the same time, it is expected to increase soil water availability, soil organic matter and biodiversity. Despite well-known environmental and economic benefits, conservation agriculture (CA) is still not popular in the Mediterranean basin. By contrast, CA would be very suitable for the Mediterranean where agriculture is suffering by market pressure and desertification. Under those conditions of threat posed by land abandonment and the ageing rural population it is urgent to offer solutions to increase the sustainability of farming systems in the Mediterranean area. Mediterranean dry-farming systems mostly rely on cereal production, generally sole crop, that are generally highly impacting on the environment. Conservation agriculture (CA) is still not widespread among Mediterranean farmers despite the evidence of many advantages associated with its use, such as the reduction of soil erosion and nitrogen leaching, and the increase of soil water availability, organic matter and biodiversity.

Objectif
In this context, the 4CE-MED project aims at developing innovative, diversified and resilient cropping systems, through a participatory approach, consistently with the principles of CA. These cropping systems include Camelina, an emerging oilseed cash cover crop enabling to enhance soil and water conservation. Camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) is particularly interesting due to environmental sustainability and the quality of its oil rich in omega-3. Camelina is currently grown on a commercial level in US and Canada where it is commonly grown as a no-till cover crop replacing fallow between two summer crops., whereas in Europe it is still virtually absent. The 4CE-MED project will investigate on the opportunity to develop camelina as a cash cover crop or double crop in the Mediterranean area. Site-specific tailor-made 4CE-MED systems will be co-designed locally through multi-stakeholder platforms across seven PRIMA Countries (Algeria, France, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia). Camelina seeds have a high content of both protein ( 30%) and oil ( 40%), which increases its potential market uptake for food, feed (including aquaculture) and bio-based applications, due to a dramatic shortage of vegetable proteins and fats in Europe. The 4CE-MED project will address all the three principles of CA : growing Camelina as cash cover crop or double crop will allow increasing organic cover soil while diversifying crop rotations ; moreover, Camelina will be grown under no-till/minimum tillage systems to prevent soil disturbance.

Coordinateur : University of Bologna
Partenaires : Algeria National Agronomic Research institute (INRAA) Arvalis - Institut du Végétal Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES) Bios Agrosystems Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) Agri-food Cooperatives Iniciativas Innovadoras Camelina Company España Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie (INRAT)

Financement principal : Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) (H2020)
Budget : 1 486 299 EUR

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