Abstract

MONTESDEOCA MONTESDEOCA, Fabián Homero Salomón et al. Profitability of crops in rotation under two soil tillage systems in the Tumbaco Valley, Ecuador. Siembra [online]. 2023, vol.10, n.2, e4552. ISSN 2477-8850.  https://doi.org/10.29166/siembra.v10i2.04552.

Small producers in Ecuador, who are grouped within the typology of peasant family agriculture (PFA), represent 62% of the rural population and contribute to food security by producing basic foodstuffs for the family food basket. Typically, their production system is based on family labor. Their main crops are beans and corn, using the conventional tillage system (CT). Soil erosion is the most serious environmental problem in Ecuador, affecting approximately 50% of the cultivated area. An effective agronomic practice against erosion is no-tillage (NT) complemented with crop rotation (CR). Investments in soil conservation are generally high and not profitable in the short term, so it is a challenge to generate techniques that improve yields, reduce costs and produce benefits from their implementation, in order to motivate their adoption. The objective of this study was to evaluate the bean-corn rotation, comparing NT with LC, at an early stage of its implementation through the benefit/cost ratio (B/C ratio) in the Experimental Field "La Tola" (CADET), in Tumbaco-Ecuador. The results show that the B/C ratio averages for beans were similar in both NT and LC systems; on the other hand, for corn, NT outperformed LC by an average of more than 50%, thus rejecting the hypothesis that NT would generate losses. In conclusion, NT is a profitable soil conservation alternative under the soil-climatic conditions studied.

Keywords : erosion; bean-corn rotation; no-tillage; benefit/cost ratio; profitability.

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