The Owita agroecosystem: a promising traditional land management system for sustainable farming in Sri Lanka

The Owita agroecosystem is a unique peri-urban land-use system. Typically it is a narrow strip of land with vegetation located between lowland paddy fields and the uplands of the Wet zone in Sri Lanka. Despite its potential to develop as a sustainable agricultural ecosystem, it has largely been ignored, underutilized and lesser-known. The main objective of this study was to assess the present status of Owita agro-ecosystem, with a focus on its plant species diversity, socio-economic aspects and ecosystem services. The study identified and evaluated thirty-five Owita systems located in the Wet zone of Sri Lanka through conducting vegetation and socio-economic surveys. The study reported a total of 115 plant species belonging to 49 families and 99 genera, of which, the family Fabaceae was found to be the most dominant, with a total of 11 species. Field observations and farmer feedback revealed that Owita provides numerous environmental benefits in the peri-urban landscape, including flood control, biodiversity conservation, and temperature regulation in the surrounding areas. Apart from the ecosystem services, Owita opens up new business ventures for subsistence farmers in peri-urban areas, and products from the system possess high demand due to their freshness and minimal usage of agrochemicals. Although the traditional Owita agro-ecosystem is primarily an annual-based cropping system, findings of the present study indicate that, it has been gradually transformed into a perennial tree-based agroforestry-type cropping system where plant species are spatially arranged in three vertical layers. Thus, the Owita system can be considered as a promising and sustainable agroecosystem that provides numerous benefits to the subsistent farmers in peri-urban environments.