Cassava farming practices and their agricultural and environmental impacts: a systematic map protocol

• Published in: Environmental evidence Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 30
• Main Authors: Shackelford, Gorm E., Haddaway, Neal R., Usieta, Hope O., Pypers, Pieter, Petrovan, Silviu O., Sutherland, William J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 15.12.2018; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Agricultural management; Agricultural management practices; Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Agroecological practices; Applications programs; Best management practices; Biodiversity; Cassava; Classification; Classification systems; Coding; Conservation; Economics; Environmental aspects; Environmental degradation; Environmental impact; Famine; Farming; Farms; Food security; Good agricultural practices; Grey literature; habitat destruction; Habitat loss; Internet; Manihot esculenta; Multifunctionality; Ontology; Pests; Profitability; Protocol (computers); protocols; Repositories; soil; Soil degradation; Soil water; staple crops; Sustainable agriculture; Taxonomy; tropical agriculture; Tropical environments; Wildlife; Wildlife habitats; Wildlife management; Nigeria; France; Europe; Africa
• ISSN: 2047-2382; 2047-2382
• DOI: 10.1186/s13750-018-0142-2

Background Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a staple crop that is important for food security in the tropics. However, cassava farming can have severe environmental impacts, such as habitat destruction and soil degradation, if it is not carefully managed. Therefore, a wide range of agricultural and environmental outcomes should be considered when cassava farming practices are recommended as "good agricultural practices". We propose a systematic map of research on cassava farming practices and their impacts on yield, quality, profitability, soil, water, wildlife, pathogens, pests, weeds, and other agricultural and environmental outcomes. This map will improve our knowledge of the multifunctionality of cassava farming practices, by answering several questions: Which studies have measured the impacts of cassava farming practices on agricultural and/or environmental outcomes? Which practices and outcomes have been studied, in which countries, and when? Methods We will search for studies of "cassava OR mandioca OR manihot OR manioc OR yuca" in four publication databases (AGRICOLA, AGRIS, Scopus, Web of Science), two repositories of grey literature (including publications from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, which have worked extensively on cassava), and the Conservation Evidence database. We will screen the search results using eligibility criteria that are transparently reported and consistently applied. We will not critically appraise the validity of the studies that are included in the map, because we see this map as a subject-wide evidence base that could be used for multiple methods of evidence synthesis, with different criteria for critical appraisal. We have developed a classification of agricultural practices and a classification of agri-environmental outcomes, and we will use these classifications ("taxonomies" or "terminological ontologies") when coding studies. We have developed a web application ( Keywords: Agroecological practices, Agricultural management practices, Best management practices, Classification systems, Good agricultural practices, Multifunctionality, Recommended management practices, Subject-wide evidence synthesis, Sustainable agriculture, Sustainable intensification