Structure
Organisme et structure d’accueil :
CIRAD / UMR ABSys, équipe INTERET, Montpellier, France, https://umr-absys.cirad.fr/
Responsables du stage :
Frédéric Gay (fgay@cirad.fr) , chercheur en agroécologie des cultures pérennes tropicales, responsable de l’équipe INTERET de l’UMR ABSys / personne contact
Xavier Bonneau (xavier.bonneau@cirad.fr ), ingénieur en agroécologie des plantations de palmier à huile / encadrant principal du stage.
Reinout Impens (reinout.impens@siat-group.com) , responsable R&D groupe SIAT / co-encadrant du stage.
Poste et missions
Période souhaitée : mars-août 2023
Lieux du stage :
FRANCE : CIRAD, campus de Lavalette, Montpellier / Bilbiographie, analyse des données, rédaction. 3 mois (mars, juillet, août)
GHANA : SIAT, GOPDC estate / Collecte données. Avril à Juin
Conditions de prise en charge du stage :
Indemnités mensuelles légales (600-650€/mois)
Billet d’avion + frais de visa
1 jour de congés/mois
Hébergement :
-En France : logement à la charge de l’étudiant.e, cantine avec tarif étudiant sur le campus du CIRAD ;
-Au Ghana : prise en charge complète des frais d’hébergement par la plantation.
Conditions particulières :
Rédaction du mémoire de fin de stage en anglais souhaitée
Mission :
Hydrological characteristics of soils along a topographical transect under oil palm cultivation and impact of hilltop biodiversity plots.
Sustainable intensification of oil palm cultivation requires a good understanding of the yield determining and limiting factors. Some of these are not under the control of planters (e.g. radiation, CO2 levels…) while water-related limitations cannot always be acted upon in a cost-efficient manner at the level of a single plot. However, a landscape approach involving a sound understanding of the soil and terrain characteristics can help in developing adequate and integrated land-use planning and identifying areas and practices for targeted interventions.
The undulating landscape of the Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC) provides a suitable terrain to study such possibilities as the topography impacts the soil characteristics and water balance with a clear effect on the productive potential for oil palm cultivation. This has been confirmed through a bi-local fertilizer trial and resulting in a policy of maintaining or implementing bio-diversity plots (BDP) at the hilltops and establishing hevea instead of oil palm on the upland hills (see poster in annex).
However, the causality of the lower production potential, particularly the effect of water deficit through the effective water infiltration and holding capacity of the soils, has not been assessed nor quantified. To do this, access tubes for a soil humidity probe have been installed along 4 transects in the landscape, starting at hilltops with no lateral inflow of water and ending in the lowland area close to streams or swamps. To further evaluate the impact of BDPs at the hilltops, 2 of the transects start in such a BDP while the other 2 start from an uncultivated area.
A student-research project involving around 3 months of field work in Ghana is proposed to utilise this set-up and collect complementary information to determine:
- How parameters of the soil profiles evolve along the transects
- How this relates with the water content observed in the profile from the onset of the dry-season until the start and possibly peak of the rainy season
- If and how the hilltop BDPs impact these parameters and what benefits they bring compared to uncultivated land
Scope of field work includes:
- Soil profile description and sampling for chemical analysis
- Sampling and on-site determination of physical characteristics: texture (particle size), water retention (pF curve)
- Collection of soil profile humidity data and rainfall information
- Processing, analysis and interpretation of data
Other field observations or data collections are possible to complement the scope and objectives of the study if time and practical constraints allow.
To enable such study GOPDC offers full accommodation on site along with technical and workforce assistance towards successful completion of the study.
Profil
- Elève ingénieur.e agri/agro ou étudiant en filière « sciences de l’environnement » de préférence en dernière année (niveau M2) mais stage aussi ouvert aux étudiant.e.s effectuant une année de césure (niveau M1).
- Bonne maîtrise de l’anglais à l’oral et à l’écrit.
- Intérêt et motivation pour la recherche en partenariat en agronomie tropicale
- Autonome, rigoureu.s.e, curieu.x.se