Talking soil science with farmers

When agricultural researchers visit farms in order to gather information for their research programmes, farmers rarely get proper feedback. Research information on scientific concepts such as soil fertility and nutrient balances is often considered too abstract for them. Researchers in Kenya returned to farmers to discuss their results in the context of Farmer Field Schools. Through the workshops that ensued, they managed to find a common language to bridge the communication gap

Managing organic resources for soil amendment

Soil fertility management is a key issue for sustaining agricultural production in the tropics. Organic resources are important for short-term nutrient availability, as well as for longer-term maintenance of soil organic matter. For smallholder farmers, organic materials are an important source of nutrients, and necessary to manage soil fertility. However, the amount of organic material available on-farm is often limited in supply, and differs widely in quality. This is why the little that is available needs to be used as efficiently as possible

MARKETING AGENCY SERVICES AND MEMBERS SATISFACTION: A CASE OF COFFEE CO-OPERATIVES SOCIETIES IN NANDI COUNTY, KENYA

This paper examined the influence of coffee marketing agency services provided to members of Co-operatives in Nandi County Kenya. The objectives of the study were to investigate the influence of timely coffee payments on members satisfaction, to investigate the influence of coffee prices on members satisfaction, to investigate the influence of commission charged on members satisfaction and to investigate the influence of advance payments on members satisfaction. The study focused on Songhor Division which is one of the divisions with highest concentration of coffee farmers in Nandi County, Kenya. The target population of the study was 1122 members with a sample size of 285 chosen . Results of the study showed that there was no significant influence on timely coffee payments and coffee prices on member satisfaction but the study established that there exist significant influence on commissions charged on coffee and advance coffee payments on member satisfaction. The study recommended that coffee cooperative societies in the area need to look for better markets for their coffee, members should also improve their coffee quality and coffee payments need to be made within a short period of time

gender and inorganic nitrogen what are the implications of moving towards a more balanced use of nitrogen fertilizer in the tropics

ABSTRACTFor agriculture to play a role in climate change mitigation strategies to reduce emissions from inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer through a more balanced and efficient use are necessary. Such strategies should align with the overarching principle of sustainable intensification and will need to consider the economic, environmental and social trade-offs of reduced fertilizer-related emissions. However, the gender equity dimensions of such strategies are rarely considered. The case studies cited in this paper, from India, Lake Victoria in East Africa and more broadly from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), show that the negative externalities of imbalanced inorganic N use in high- and low-use scenarios impact more strongly on women and children. We examine, through a literature review of recent work in SSA, the relative jointness of intra-household bargaining processes in low N use scenarios to assess the degree to which they impact upon N use. We suggest that gender-equitable strategies for achieving more ba..

Understanding the relations between farmers’ seed demand and research methods: The challenge to do better

Although the development of improved seeds has witnessed significant advances over the last decades, the adoption of improved seeds and varieties by smallholder farmers is variable. This suggests that research methods for studying farmers’ seed demand are not yielding information that reflects the real-life decisions and behaviours of farmers in the choice and acquisition of their seeds. We suggest that research methods for analysing farmers’ seed demand shape seed availability. This is supported by the theory of social life of methods. We argue that access to and attractiveness of seed are highly context-specific for a farmer, for example, influenced by his/her social position, the role of the crop or variety in the farming system, the linkage to the market, agro-ecological conditions, and that context is highly variable. We also argue that many of our research methods are weak on capturing real-life context and provide fragmented snapshot-nature understanding and biases of farmers preferences and needs for seeds. We call for more integrated understanding of seed systems as a whole and a more holistic methodological research approach that better captures the variable real-life context of farmers while providing the metrics that are needed by seed actors and policymakers to enable informed decisions

Livestock solutions to regenerate soils and landscapes for sustainable agri-food systems transformation in Africa

Agri-food systems approaches have gained international recognition over the last years. The role of livestock—both in mixed crop-livestock and pastoral systems—in sustainable agri-food systems transformation remains contested. In this review paper we present new analyses of original data from an international livestock expert survey, a quantitative search in Web of Science, and a literature review to unravel the potential for livestock systems to sustainably transform agri-food systems through regenerating soils and restoring degraded landscapes. We (i) illustrate how livestock is important for people and planet alike; (ii) review how to harness livestock's potential for rehabilitation of soils and landscapes; (iii) demonstrate successful case studies of livestock solutions such as improved forages for cut-and-carry systems and grazing management; and (iv) identify four critical steps required for lasting change at continental scale. We conclude that livestock solutions can be key catalysts for sustainable agri-food systems transformation that merit accelerated public and private investments. More research is needed to develop concrete, operational and practical livestock solutions, and measure, monitor and report their contributions and progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

An ethnographic exploration of the impacts of HIV/AIDS on soil fertility management among smallholders in Butula, western Kenya

This paper shows how HIV/AIDS negatively affects soil fertility management strategies among Kenyan smallholders. The paper examines this relationship, using ethnographic interviews of purposively selected affected households in Butula Division, Busia District, Kenya. Soil fertility management was given low priority in the face of high HIV/AIDS prevalence although it is a critical resource for meeting basic needs. Findings show that HIV/AIDS poses a significant and complex threat to the already deficient soil fertility management practices among smallholders. The disease’s synergistic relation with poverty increases the stress on soil fertility management. It destructs local social structures and households by taking away resource persons, overburdening traditional insurance systems, and obliterating any modest capital and labour useful for soil fertility management that has been accumulated by the household. There is need for robust soil fertility policy-action frameworks that can be sustained under the limiting conditions of affected households and that can mitigate HIV/AIDS impacts amidst high povert

Fertile ground? : soil fertility management and the African smallholder

Keywords: smallholder farmers, soil fertility, experimentation, "inconvenience", realist.The focus in this thesis is to form a view of how well soil fertility research performs within the ever shifting smallholder contexts. This study examined application of agro-ecological knowledge for soil fertility management by smallholder farmers, with the view to enhancing the utility of research among resource-deprived farmers of westernKenya.A realist methodological approach to the study of soil management was applied. It is shown that soil fertility management operates under the assumption that consequences (soil management) are to be explained not just by contextual states (in this case farmer knowledge) but by "mechanisms" of decision making and soil management that need to be uncovered. Knowledge is nothing unless it engages with real soil management processes.Between 2003 and 2005, participatory experimentation, monitoring and evaluation of technologies and concepts were explored. Those experiments involved: (i) cereal-legume rotations; (ii) screening new soyabean varieties for selection among smallholders; (iii) organic resource quality concepts and biomass transfer; and(iv) mineralfertiliser response. Farmers' practices following these experiments were investigated, with particular focus on their underlying justifications and livelihood objectives.Participating farmers selected experimental plots to ensure that the soils were representative in terms of type, fertility status and history of cultivation. These farms were classified as infertile during the participatory soil characterisation. Farmers deliberately selected the infertile plots to "see if the new technologies worked", and as part of their wider objective. These experimental plots were researcher-designed.Researcher notions of organic resource quality was interpreted and amended by farmers based on existing knowledge, experiences and cultural constructs. For instance, Tithonia was perceived as a "hot resource" that could be added to composts to increase the "speed of cooking". Amendments to this concept, and to new soil fertility management technologies, were based on "ordinary" applications and reflected perceptions of inconvenience; meaning especially labour constraints, land shortage, uncertain yield and economic returns. Alternative (i.e. not-for-soil-fertility-management) uses of the different technologies were prominent. For example, legume varieties with utility beyond soil fertility management were preferred which resulted in readily observable gains when applied under variable local conditions. Those local conditions demanded the use of mineral (P) fertiliser in the successful implementation of the cereal-legume rotation scheme or adoption of newpromiscuoussoyabeanvarieties. Farmers selected varietiesprimarily on the basis of yield, rate of growth and appearance.Poor yields when mineral fertiliser was not applied, or unsteady crop responses after its use, cost - coinciding with priority expenditures and association with particular technologies such as hybrid maize - complicated the use of fertiliser.Limited understanding of fertiliser functionality, soil nutrients or soil fertility mechanisms is clarified in terms of the context-mechanism-outcome paradigm of "realist" explanation. The farmer paradigm refers mainly to context and outcomes, which we interpret as a kind of positivism. On the one hand, scientists' focus on mechanisms (to the apparent exclusion of context and outcome) does not match the highly variable local social, physical and economic contexts made more difficult by poor (implementation of) policy. Both farmers and researchers, it is argued, need to enhance their capacity to modify their knowledge sets by engaging in well-designed joint research drawing on the context-mechanism-outcome configuration. Experimentation is seen as one way to expand farmers' knowledge sets on soil fertility and to make mechanisms (e.g. nutrient availability) more visible, so that farmers can engage in soil fertility improvement activity in ways that are both more effective and more meaningful.This thesis also concludes that to increase the utility of research requires a shiftfrom component research to research at subsystem or whole-farm system level to address broader household objectives. The chances of sustainable application of scientific innovations by smallholders will be greatly enhanced if field research embraces and embeds social science methods of engaging the farmer sustainably as a partner in technology development and not simply as a client