Strategy for the sustainability of a bioproduction system in the humid tropics

Abstract

Modern crop production in temperate regions has been developed with high input technology and intensive land use. In tropical areas, however, adverse soils such as low pH, poor nutrient, peat, and saline soils extend widely, and it is very difficult to preserve the status after cultivation or deforestation. Also, those areas are thought to be as the key ecosystems for not only preserving bioresources and biodiversity, but also for reducing carbon efflux through the preservation of peat, storage of carbon in forests, and maintenance of water balance. To avoid sacrificing tropical environments, these fragile environments should be maintained by minimizing inputs for bioproduction. To do this a new bioproduction system is required. To develop this new bioproduction system in the tropics, first it is important to know how native plants have developed the ability to adapt to, or to be tolerant of, adverse soil conditions. As for the nutritional statues in the tropics, implementing a strategy to sustain a bioproduction system using native plants adapted to adverse soils, especially peat, acid, and poor nutrients soils, is proposed.