Fodder Crop Adoption through Push-Pull Technology (PPT) for Fall Armyworm (FAW) Control in Cereals Cropping Systems

There is an urgent need to increase grain yields and animal products due to increasing human population in Africa. Push-pull technology (PPT) is a conservation agriculture intercrop technology which protects and enhances natural resources productivity and ecosystem services in mixed farming systems. The technology involves growing of a cereal crop with a repellent intercrop, Desmodium genus (silverleaf, D. uncinatum and greenleaf, D. intortum) with grass such as Pennisetum purpureum or Brachiaria spp. planted as a border around the cereal-legume intercrop. The plants accompanying the cereal crop are typically valuable high quality fodder thus integrating crop-livestock production. The PPT was initially developed in the high altitude areas which were mainly suitable for optimal growth of Desmodium sp. In contrast, Clitoria ternatea (Blue pea) is the recommended herbaceous forage legume crop for the low altitude areas. In addition, clitoria and dolichos demonstrated their ability to effectively repel stem-borer pests in push pull technology systems within the coastal lowlands. The experiments were established in four sites representing diverse coastal lowlands (CL) agro-ecological zones (CL3, CL4, and CL5). The species used in the system were: maize (cereal crop, the main target by Spodoptera pests); climate-smart brachiaria grass (as a pull crop) and blue pea (as a push crop). It was demonstrated that the push-pull technology can also control FAW and that this system be promoted for provision of high quality fodder for livestock in smallholder mixed farms

Assessment of gender and innovations in climatesmart agriculture for food and nutrition security in Kenya: a case of Kalii watershed

Climate-change and variability (CC&V) exerts multiple stresses on agriculture production. It negatively impacts gender-cadres especially in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands that occupy 89% (area), 36% (population), 70% (livestock), and 90% (wildlife). Smallholders with limited resources endowments have adopted climate-smart agriculture technologies, which are viewed as a panacea to CC&V in addressing interlinked food-security challenges. This paper reports baseline survey results on 149 randomly selected households in Kalii watershed. Primary and secondary data were collected in March 2015. Data-analyses encompassed regressions, descriptive statistics and gender-analysis. Local perceptions/results revealed precipitations downwardtrend and an upward-trend of temperatures, and other elements, and outcomes of CC&V. Gender and innovations are statistically significant at (p<0.05). Decision-making on assets’ and proceeds’ control and use, was men’s domain. Invariably, gender and climate-smart agriculture innovations are critical in food and nutrition security strategy under CC&V

Critical analysis of tillage practices with fertility levels in maize and populations in beans as adaptation measures to climate change to enhance food security at Kabete

Trials were carried out in 2012/2013 short and 2013 long seasons at Kabete site representing a warm and wet environment in Kenya to determine, the appropriateness of combining fertilizer levels for maize and population levels with tied ridges for beans, as adaptation measures under changing climate. The maize experiment consisted of three fertilizer levels of 0, 20 and 40 kg/ha N while the bean experiment had three spacings of 12, 15 and 20 cm in a split plot design. The experiments were replicated thrice and consisted of conventional tillage and tied ridges as main plots representing the two soil water management practices while the three soil fertility levels (in maize N0, N20 and N40) or spacing options (12, 15 and 20cm) were sub plots in a Completely Randomized Block Design. The ridges were tied at intervals of 1 m and spaced at recommended crop spacings (i.e. 75cm for maize and 45cm for beans) and the crop planted on the slope of the ridge in 6 by 5 m plots. Basal phosphate (P205) fertilizer in the form of Triple Superphosphate was applied at planting time at the rate of 40kg/ha. Nitrogen in the form of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate was applied at 20 Kg/ha in the 20 and 40 N treatments at planting and further 20kg/ha N top dressed in the 40 treatment level. Harvesting was done at physiological maturity of grain which was air dried. Statistical analysis was done of the treatments and comparisons done of the adaptation advantages of the treatments. Tied ridging increased maize yields at the medium fertilizer level of 20 (+5.22%) but were negative under both zero (-15.56%) and 40 kg/ha application of fertilizers (-5.42%). In the short season, increased bean spacing from 12 to 20 decreased yields under normal (-13.6%) and tied ridges (-37.3%) but remained higher at populations of 12 and 15. In the long season increasing bean population from spacing of 12 cm to 20 had no advantage and under tied ridging compared to normal tillage. Tied ridging as a climate change adaptive measure should not be instituted as a blanket recommendation across rainfall regimes, crops, fertilization levels or plant populations and is more advantageous in drier seasons

Maize response to macronutrients and potential for profitability in sub-Saharan Africa

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10705-015-9717-2Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is plagued by low productivity and little research is available on the attainable responses and profitability to applied nutrients under variable environments. The objective of this study was to determine the attainable maize grain response to and potential of profitability of N, P and K application in SSA using boundary line approaches. Data from experiments conducted in SSA under AfSIS project (2009–2012) and from FAO trials database (1969–1996) in 15 countries and constituting over 375 different experimental locations and 6600 data points are used. Both response to fertilizer and value cost ratio (VCR) are highly variable and no more than 61 % cases for N, 43 % for P and 25 % for K attain VCR of 2 or more. Also, based on the recent AfSIS data, VCR exceeds 1 in just 67 % (N), 57 % (P) and 40 % (K) of the cases, even when best management practices are applied on a research farm, and interest rates are zero. Chances for profitability are highest when soil organic carbon is 1–2 % and control maize grain yield is 1–3 t ha−1 but also depends on relatively static soil properties (primarily texture and mineralogy) that are not under farmer control. We conclude that return on investment of macronutrient fertilizer is highly variable and can be substantially increased by helping farmers decide where to apply the fertilizers. Consequently, farmers need access to information on factors influencing economic returns of fertilizer use in order to make the right decisions

Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: An Evaluation of Yield Potential of Maize, Sorghum, Common Bean and Pigeon Pea Varieties in a Very Cool-Wet Region of Nyandarua County, Central Kenya

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of maize, sorghum, common bean and pigeon pea varieties under different water management in a cool and wet region of Central Kenya, as a part of the studies at analogue sites. The first experiment evaluated the growth and performance of three varieties (early maturing: EM, medium maturing: MM and late maturing: LM) of maize (Zea mays L), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The second experiment evaluated maize and sorghum response to water conservation and three fertiliser rates (0, 20 and 40 kg N/ha). The third experiment assessed the effect of water conservation measures on crop yields of common bean and pigeon pea grown under three plant densities (low, medium and high). Tied ridge tillage was used as the water conservation measure and disc plough as the control in the second and third experiments. Maize, sorghum, pigeon pea and common bean took more than 180, 245, 217 and 95 days respectively, to reach physiological maturity. The MM maize variety (DK8031), EM pigeon pea variety (ICPL 84091) and LM common bean variety (GLP 24) yielded the greatest grain of 4,938, 881 and 620 kg/ha respectively, among the respective crop varieties. The sorghum varieties were attacked by fungal and rust diseases leading to yield losses in all seasons. Soil water conservation in general did not have a significant effect on crop yield though there were yield improvements. In the plant density trial, the medium plant densities of pigeon pea (33,333 pl/ha) and common bean (148,148 pl/ha) resulted in the greatest grain yields. The highest grain yield of maize (4,184 kg/ha) and sorghum (47 kg/ha) was obtained in plots with 20 kg/ha of nitrogen fertilizer. Based on the results of this study, pigeon pea and common bean can be introduced in the farming systems to improve crop diversity. The production of the tested sorghum varieties should be discouraged in this region because they are prone to fungal and rust diseases due to the cold and wet weather conditions

Adapting agriculture to climate change - An evaluation of yield potential of maize, sorghum, common bean and pigeon pea varieties in a very cool-wet region of Nayandarua County

Soil and water conservation, use of more adaptive crop genotypes and crop diversification are widely accepted as some of the management practices that can help reduce agriculture vulnerability to impacts of climate change. A study was conducted to evaluate the yield potential of maize, sorghum, common bean and pigeon pea varieties under different water management, plant densities and fertility levels in Nyahururu, Central Kenya. The study involved three experiments. The first experiment evaluated the growth and performance of three varieties (early maturing, medium maturing and late maturing) of maize, sorghum, pigeon pea and common bean. The experimental design was a completely randomized block design (RCBD) replicated three times. The second experiment evaluated maize and sorghum yield response to water conservation and three fertiliser rates (0, 20 and 40 kg N/ha). The third experiment assessed the effect of water conservation measures on crop yields of common bean and pigeon pea grown under three plant densities (low, medium and high). Tied ridge tillage was used as the water conservation measure and disc plough as the control in the second and third experiments. Results showed that water conservation in general did not have a significant effect on crop yield though they were improved. The medium density pigeon pea gave the highest grain (719 kg/ha) followed by low (688 kg/ha) and high plant density (687 kg/ha), though not significant at 0.95 confidence level. Similar trends were observed with common bean grain and dry matter yield. Tied ridges tended to lower maize yield compared to flat tillage while it increased sorghum yields but the difference was insignificant. When average across the tillage systems, the highest maize grain (5553 kg/ha) and dry matter (14298 kg/ha) yield was obtained in plots without N fertilizer. Sorghum dry matter was highest (11333 kg/ha) in plots with 40 kg N/ha and lowest (7903 kg/ha) in plots with 20 kg/ha N. In the variety experiment, the EM pigeon pea variety (ICPL 84091) yielded the greatest grain (881 kg/ha) while the late maturing variety (ICEAP 00040) gave the least (565 kg/ha). The LM maize variety (DK8031) yielded the highest grain (5701 kg/ha) and dry matter (18843 kg/ha). The LM sorghum variety (Macia) had 47% and 49% dry matter yield advantage over MM (Kari Mtama 1) and EM (Gadam) varieties, respectively. The yields for common bean varieties tended to vary with seasons. So what are the conclusions

Integrated nutrient management strategies for soil fertility improvement and Striga control in northern Ethiopia

Experiments were conducted near Sirinka and Mekele in the highlands of northern Ethiopia during 1996 and 1997 to determine effects of integrated nutrient management practices on Striga density and yields of maize (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in farmers fields and on-station. Field trials consisted of a factorial combination of four levels of inorganic fertiliser N (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg N ha-1 from Urea) and four rates of farmyard manure (0, 10, 20 and 30 t ha-1). Striga emergence was minimised with the application of 120 kg N ha-1. The combined application of 40 kg N ha-1 and 30 t ha-1 manure also significantly reduced Striga emergence. The combined application of manure and N (40 kg N ha-1 and 30 t ha-1 for sorghum and 80 kg N ha-1 and 30 t ha-1 manure for maize) increased crop yields at Sirinka during the second season. Thus, improving the N status of the soil help suppress Striga. However, long-term studies are required to quantify these beneficial effects of N on Striga density. Key Words: Ethiopia, N fertilisation, Striga managementRésuméDes essais ont été conduits près de Sirinki et Makele dans les hautes terres du nord d'Ethiopie durant la campagne 1996/97 pour déterminer les effets de la gestion des pratiques integreés d'élements nutritifs sur la densité du Striga et les rendements de maïs ( Zea mays) et le sorgho (Sorghum bicolour (L.)) en champs d'agriculteurs et en station de recherche. Les essais consistaient en une combinaison factorielle de quatre niveaux d'engrais inorganiques d'Azote (0, 40, 80, et 120 kg d'N ha-1 d'urée) et quatre niveaux de fumier de ferme (0, 10, 20 et 30 t ha-1). L'emergence du Striga a été minimisée avec le traitement de 120 kg d'N. L' application combinée de de la fumure et d'N (40 kg d' N et 30 t ha-1 pour le sorgho ; 80 kg d'N ha -1 et 30t ha-1 de fumier pour le maïs) a favorisé l'augmentation des rendements à Sirinka durant la deuxième saison. Ainsi l'amélioration de l'état d'Azote du sol facilitera la suppression du Striga. Cependant, des études à long terme sont nécessaires pour déterminer les effets bénéfiques d'Azote sur la densité du Striga.Mots Clés: Ethiopie, fertilisation d'Azote, gestion du Striga (African Crop Science Journal 8(4) 2000: 403-410

Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Agricultural Systems in East Africa

The following sections are included: Introduction Farming System Investigated Stakeholder Interactions, Meetings, and Representative Agricultural Pathways Data and Methods of Study Adaptation Package Core Question 1: What Is the Sensitivity of Current Agricultural Production Systems to Climate Change? AgMIP Core Question 1: What is the Sensitivity of Current Agricultural Production System to Climate change? AgMIPCore Question 2:WhatIs the Impact of Climate Change on Future Agricultural Production Systems? Sensitivity to Trends Assumptions Core Question 3: What Are the Benefits of Climate Change Adaptations? Conclusions and Next Steps Reference