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LegumeCHOICE: LegumeCHOICE: Realizing the underexploited potential of

multi-purpose legumes towards improved livelihoods anda better environment in crop-livestock systems in East &

Central Africa

Workshop at ICRAF HQ Nairobi

Date: 13th January, 2015

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Implementation sites

• Kisii County: Marani, Ibeno• Migori County: Rongo, kisii

FGD highlightsLegume type Migori Kisii

Suna West Rongo Ibeno MaraniAnnual grain legume

BeansCowpeasGreen gramsground nutsSoya bean

BeansCow peasGreen gramsGround nutsSoya bean

BeanCowpeasGreen gramsSoya beans

beansChickpeaCow peasGreen gramsground nutssoya bean

Perennial grain legume

Pigeon pea pigeon peas

Fodder tree legume Sesbania sesban

CalliandraLeucaena Sesbania sesban

CalliandraLeucaenaSesbania Sesban

CalliandraSesbania sesban

Green manure crop Crotolaria Crotalaria

Herbaceous legume Dolichos lablab

Herbaceous fodder legume

Desmodium

Desmodium

Perennial shrub Acacia polycanthra Perennial tree legume

Albizia gummifera

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Baseline survey: legumes  Migori Kisii

Class Rongo Suna West Ibeno Marani

Annual grain legumes

beanscowpeasgreen gramsGroundnutsSoya beans

beanscowpeasGround nuts

beans beansGround nutsGreen grams

Annual fodder legumes

Calliandra Sesbania sesban

Calliandra Sesbania sesban

Calliandra Sesbania sesban

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Legume Functions

• Grain  legumes: Consumption, income, soil fertility (crop residue), erosion control, medicinal, grain preservative, vegetable oil

• Tree  legumes:  Fodder (cattle, goats and chicken) fuel wood, fencing, soil fertility, fuel wood, support bananas, washing soap (Sesbania)

• Herbaceous  fodder  legume: pest control, fodder/ soil fertility (desmodium)

LEGUME USE

ground nuts

Consumption, Selling, Planting seeds ,livestock feed(leaves), nuts are powdered and mixed with vegetables, nuts are grounded for flour, it softens the skin for those who eat it

Calliandrafodder for cattle, goats and chicken fuel wood, medicine for mouth fungal infection, Fencing

beansConsumption, selling, planting seed, livestock feed, ash byproduct used preservation of vegetables, crop residue used to improve soil fertility

soybean Beverage, Selling (30 kshs. Glass), soya meat, seeds are roasted and eaten

green grams Consumption, selling, soil fertility improvement

pigeon peas Consumption, Selling, fodder for livestock

sesbaniafodder leaves, domestic source of firewood, selling firewood, banana support poles, soil fertility improvement, dairy cow mineral, supplements

cowpeas Vegetables, selling seeds and vegetables, Seeds

chick pea Consumption, selling

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Cropping systems

• Mono cropping, intercropping, hedgerows

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Constraints

• Pest and diseases• Inadequate knowledge on legumes• unpredictable weather patterns• lack of certified seeds• poor market access• Poor soil fertility• poor yields

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Constraints cont…

• High cost of input (Fertilizer)• poor farming methods• poor access of other seed variety• Inadequate capital, labour• Food habits

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Opportunities for interventions

Farmer Training on crop management Improving access to inputs: seeds, fertilizers,

pesticides Promotion of fodder legumes Promotion of growing French beans. Farmers already

possess the knowhow having grown it in the past (Kisii)

• Processing of soya bean to exploit its multiple benefits

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Choice of intervention…Ibeno Female: Beans, cowpeas, Soybean, Calliandra, Green grams, SesbaniaMale: Green grams, Climbing beans, Calliandra calothyrsus, Sesbania sesban, Leucaena leucocephala, Pigeon peas, Desmodium MaraniFemale: training on legumes, inputs and value addition to soya beanMale: Common beans, Ground nuts, Soya beans, Sesbania, Cow peas, Calliandra, Green grams, Pigeon peas, Desmodium

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Choice of intervention

Suna West• Female:  Beans, Desmodium, Fodder trees and crops• Male: Common beans, Ground nuts,Cow peas, Sesbania

sesban RongoFemale: grain legume, soil fertility improvement, egumes for fodder, Legumes for fuel wood,Legumes for mulchingLegumes for proteinMale: Common beans, Ground nuts, Soya beans, Cow peasCalliandra calothyrsus, Leucaena,Desmodium

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Niches and opportunity for legumes• Immediate entry points: food and fodder, soil fertility and erosion control• Urgent  concern:  food and nutritional purposes, economic perspective-discussions

was the need to expand area under legumes for sale to generate income.• Soil fertility improvement and soil erosion control was suggested as a long term

outcome. • Adoption of legume based technologies is more likely among all farmers with very

small plots of land and those with large plots because legumes already exist in their current niches.

• The identification of unexploited  or  underutilized  niches  such as conservation bunds, farm hedges, and unproductive fields may provide an entry point for the introduction of the legume technologies in Kisii and Migori counties.

• Suitable legume niches in the existing farming systems in Kisii and Migori counties included both temporal and spatial. Temporal niches are defined by sequential (rotations) or simultaneous (intercropping) occurrence of food crops and legume species; while the spatial niches are defined by the best place on the farm to plant the different legume species. Options include intercropping, alley cropping/hedge rows, relay cropping, biomass transfer and improved fallows, crop rotations

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THANK YOU