Catalogue of Tested Crop, Soil, and Water Management Options in target areas of Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia

Patrick Mutuo, Lulseged Desta, Leigh Winowiecki, Job Kihara and Nelson Mango

CIAT

Africa RISING East and Southern Africa Research Review and

Planning Meeting, Arusha, Tanzania, 1-5 October 2012

Objectivesi. To take stock of what has been learnt in the target areas

from earlier investments and potential for adoption in sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture,

ii. To assess land degradation and access of smallholder farmers to productive land,

iii. To assess the physical and economic accessibility to the essential production factors for implementing improved options, and

iv. To assess the current conduciveness of the political, extension, and economic environment for their adoption.

Target Areas

Zambia – Lusaka &East

Tanzania

Malawi – Central districts

Well documented best bet options• Cereal-Legume rotations and intercropping (Cajanus cajan, soybeans,

groundnuts and common beans)

• Fertilization with recommended fertilizer rates of N and P; not much of K

• Addition of organic inputs (crop residue incorporation, compost manure, green manures, and farmyard manure)

• Combining inorganic fertilizers with organic inputs / ISFM

• Alley cropping/hedgerow intercropping

• Improved fallows using fast growing N fixing tree species (e.g., Tephrosia vogelii, Sesbania sesban, or Cajanus cajan)

• Systematic inter-planting of maize with Faiderbia albida

• Conservation agriculture (CA) in maize-based systems

What seems to drive adoption• Availability and affordability of required inputs such as

fertilizers, legume seeds, manures etc.• Competition of legume-based technologies with other

crops for limited resources – land, labour and cash• The speed of earning benefits – presenting challenges

with options such as Feldherbia albida, CA and FYM• Cash or food benefits of grain legumes

Country Estimated No. of HH/agro-dealer

Malawi 1,556

Tanzania 2,222

Zambia 2,333

Economic analysis of maize and rice fertilization at nine Tanzania sites

Crop Nutrient rates MRR*

N P (%)

Kg ha-1  

Maize 0 20 156

Maize 0 40 18

Maize 0 0 0

Maize 30 0 206

Maize 80 20 241

Rice 40 0 409

Rice 120 30 296

Rice 120 0 344

Rice 40 20 766

*Favourable MRR should be ≥ 200%

CA and rip-line seeding effect on longer term maize yields on farmers fields in Malawi

(Source: Thiefelder et al., 2012)

Initiatives that have been implemented in the target areas aimed at agricultural intensification

Country Programme

Tanzania Accelerated Food Security (AFSP) and Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP)

HIMA project in Iringa

Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP)

National Manure campaign

National Conservation Agriculture Task force (NCATF)

Agroforestry Support Program (AFSP)

Irrigation, Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Development Project (IRLADP)

Soil and water management interventions

Zambia Promotion of Fertiliser Trees in Eastern Zambia

Conservation Agriculture Programme

Dissemination and promotion approaches being applied

• Farmer field schools. • Framer-to-farmer exchange visits• Media (exhibition shows, TV and radio) • Farmer Research Groups (FRG)• Learning from demonstration plots• Demand driven extension method• Lead-farmer concept• Training of trainers concept• The study circle concept• Platforms utilization• Participatory Extension Approach (PEA); and others

Numerous relevant training materials exist for the target areas

Category of training material Number identified

ISFM 9Agroforestry 5Conservation agriculture 15Agro-dealer training material 3

AfricaRising: Combining AfSIS-LDSF sites and NARS Rain gauge stations

LDSF sites3- Tanzania3- Zambia2- Malawi

Rainfall Station3-Tanzania55- Malawi11- Zambia

Identifying land degradation hotspots and soil health constraints to agricultural productivity

Modeling Cultivated Areas and Erosion Prevalence

Cultivated areas (TRUE) have higher erosion risk compared to non-cultivated plots (FALSE) in only two sites.

All sites have mixed a mix of cultivated and non-cultivated areas, indicating the complexity of landuses across the landscape.

Assessing Soil Health: Soil organic carbon (SOC) content

Mean topsoil OC content at five sites

Mbinga, Tanzania

Longitude

Lati

tud

e

Assessing Landscape Variation in Yield: Thuchila, Malawi

Crop response varies across the landscape and between treatments.

Assessing Variation in TN and SOC: Thuchila, Malawi

Research questions: How do SOC and TN concentrations affect crop response? How does erosion prevalence affect crop response? Which ecological and soil variables explain the variation in crop response, across the landscape.

Beyond AfricaRISING Quick Win: Increase the number of sites and co-located ecological and agronomic assessmentsSuggested LDSF Site Locations

4-Zambia3-Malawi4-Tanzania

Objectives: To produce Africa Rising regional assessments and maps of land degradation and soil health.

To link ecological and socio-economic baseline

data.

Beyond AfricaRISING Quick Win: Linking infrared spectroscopy and crop productivity.

Concluding RemarksTechnologies, learning materials and policies to get intensification moving are already existing.

Effort is needed to increase agro-input dealers and extension teams on the ground.

Soil and ecological variables are needed to explain all variation of crop response.

Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) is an appropriate tool for assessing land and ecosystem health.

Collaboration across CGIAR centres, NARS, and local organizations in critical.