Design of a sustainable rice production system in Babahoyo, Los Ríos province, Ecuador

Abstract

This work will be carried out in Babahoyo, in Los Rios province, (Ecuador). The objective is to design a rice production system in order to achieve the monoculture sustainability of this city and to establish the sustainability indicators to evaluate this rice production system. The methodological scheme to be used will be as follows: by designing the proposed forest fences, it will be possible to establish a rice production system in which crop rotation would also take place. The forest fences will be defined by alternating the production of inga (Inga edulis Martius), guayacán (Guaiacum sanctum L.), and mango (Mangifera Indica)on the perimeter walls of rice fields; while there will be a rotation of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and soybean crop (Glycine max L.). Throughout the year, rice will be cultivated during the wet season and soya during the dry one. The transformation of the rice monoculture into a Sustainable System of rice production would be achieved so that the rice farmer will not have to rely only on the production and commercialization of this grass. With soya and inga farming, the system will also allow nitrogen fixation in the soil and, because of the nature of soy roots, soil compaction will be prevented. The proposed agroforestry system is expected to contribute efficiently to carbon capture. In phytosanitary terms, crop rotation will interrupt the biological cycles of cultivar pests.