The first implementation of a low tillage farming technique with the use of strip tillage machine in Greece marks a significant milestone for the SpongeWorks project and the Pinios River Basin Demonstrator. Local farmers and stakeholders, as well as scientists gathered at a pilot field in Karditsa, at the Western tip of the Pinios River Basin, to witness the launching of its application by the Tavropos Irrigation Organisation.
Low tillage is an agricultural technique that keeps parts of the surface covered with crop residues. Amongst its numerous significant environmental benefits are the increase in organic matter and soil fertility as well as natural water retention, improvement of soil health, protection against erosion and contribution to drought resilience. For farmers it means optimization in energy, labor and seeding costs.
A specialized strip-tillage machine creates narrow strips of 15-20 cm, following the planting row design and applying fertilizer directly, leaving the intermediate area between the strips undisturbed, retaining plant cover from previous crops.
The fields in Karditsa, situated at the Western tip of the Pinios River Basin, face several problems, including soil erosion, reduced soil fertility, overuse of water and farm chemicals, and limited water supply. Less than two years ago, the region was severely hit by storm DANIEL which caused massive floods and even human casualties. Pinios, Greece’s agricultural heartland, and the country’s most important hydro-system, is dominated by dry Mediterranean climate and intensive agricultural land use which have led to over-exploitation of its natural resources.
Evidently the basin has been chosen as one of the 3 SpongeWorks demonstrators in Europe together with the Lèze valley in France and the transboundary basin of the Vecht (shared by Germany and the Netherlands) whereby sponge measures will be implemented on a landscape scale. Over the next four years, the project will implement ‘sponge measures’ at more than 200 sites across the basin including buffer strips and systematic mulching in Karditsa’s cotton fields, the creation of a narrow riparian forest and a ‘Sponge demo Park’ in Trikala, mulching in urban and peri-urban parks in Agia, and the restoration of terraces with soil water harvesting and reuse.
The first reactions from the strip tillage demonstration were very encouraging. Mr. Vassilis Kaltsas, a young farmer stated that “I believe that we will have very good results because we are reducing the cost of production and time spent for cultivation”.
The aim of these measures, often referred to as Nature-based solutions, is to improve the water-retention capacity of the region, contributing thus to a transformative change in land and water management and ultimately enhancing climate change resilience.
Strip tillage is but one of the Nature-based Solutions that are implemented in Karditsa together with irrigation scheduling and buffer strips aiming to apply sponge measures in approximately 700 hectares. Their implementation will be coordinated by the Tavropos Irrigation Organisation together with farmers and local stakeholders, who will act as the on the ground catalysts of this much needed transformative change for the region.
The project’s ambition is to enhance water budget and improve water quality through efficient soil water management, thus optimizing the green water use and reducing blue water abstraction, secure landscapes against floods through riparian interventions, protect from soil erosion, restore fertility and health employing agroecological practices and traditional structures and increase PRB’s resilience to climate change, improving socio-economic welfare and ecosystem functioning.
