Strides from the heart of Africa

The phase I of the Consortium for Improving Agriculturebased Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA) project, initiated in 2006, succeeded in (i) characterizing the target areas, (ii) developing and evaluating technologies for improved productivity of banana- and legume-based systems, (iii) promoting improved nutrition and farmer-market linkages, (iv) building capacity, mainly of national system scientists (18 students trained at M.Sc. or Ph.D. level) and farmer groups (130 farmer groups trained), and (v) initiating partnerships to reach scale. CIALCA-I also broke new ground by establishing effective partnerships between institutes of the three target countries, which resulted in successful collaboration, sharing of resources, experiences, and ideas. While CIALCA-I focused most of its activities in specific action and satellite sites—comprising a limited number of households—within each mandate area, CIALCA-II aims at impact in the mandate areas. Phase II was initiated in 2009. The project’s overall goal is to improve the livelihoods of agriculture-based communities in Central Africa by enhancing their capacity to access and efficiently use the resources needed to improve system productivity, resulting in a better income, nutrition, and environment

Multi-purpose cowpea inoculation for improved yields in small holder farms in Kenya

Introduction In Kenya, cowpea is the most important pulse crop in the dry lands of Eastern and Coastal regions where it is commonly inter cropped with maize and sorghum. The poor yields obtained in small holder farms in Kenya (150 kg ha-1) can in part be attributed to the use of poor yielding varieties, low soil fertility (mainly N and P deficiency) low presence of effective indigenous rhizobia and high occurrence of highly competitive but inefficient indigenous rhizobia strains. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) through exploitation of the rhizobia-legume symbiosis and use of inoculants coupled with soil amendments such as Phosphorus offers in part a means to improve cowpea yield, nutrition and soil fertility

Site-specific organic and conventional crop yields in a long-term farming systems comparison in sub-humid central Kenya

Organic farming is increasingly being taken up by farmers and agricultural development agencies in tropics. This is in a bid to improve world food security and rural livelihoods in a sustainable way. Long-term field trial that compares organic and conventional systems was set up in sub-humid central Kenya since 2006 to provide a scientific basis for organic agriculture in the region. The project seeks to gather data on how organic farming affects: yield and yield stability; stability of the agro-ecological system; and natural and economic resource efficiency. The experiments were set up at two sites namely Chuka and Thika. Both sites are at an altitude of 1500m asl. While Chuka lies in a high potential area with 2000 mm of rainfall and good soil phosphorus availability, Thika has fair yield potential, 1000 mm rainfall and low phosphorus availability. Crop rotations include maize, beans and vegetables.” The trials compares organic and conventional systems at two input levels, namely subsistence and commercial levels, resulting in four treatments: Conventional high input, organic high input, conventional low input and organic low input. In Chuka, organic yields were on average the same as conventional yields. On the low potential site of Thika, organic yields reached an average 55% of the conventional yields. Organic yields on the low input level were on average 13% lower than conventional yields on the low input level. On the high input level, organic yields were on average 26% lower than conventional yields. Organic maize yields achieved on average 77% of conventional maize yields, whereas organic brassica yields were 66% lower than conventional brassica yields. No significant difference was observed between mean organic and conventional legume crop yields. Our results suggest that: on high potential site of Chuka, organic crops can be grown without yield reduction; on low potential site of Thika, especially if low nutrient availability coincide with low rainfall, considerable yield reductions must be expected in organic systems in the transition phase; low input systems are less sensitive to conversion to organic agriculture than high input systems and relative yield levels in organic systems vary between crops

Beyond averages: new approaches to understand heterogeneity and risk of technology success or failure in smallholder farming

Open Access ArticleIn recent years, many studies have demonstrated the heterogeneity of the smallholder production environment. Yet agronomic research for development (R4D) that aims to identify and test options for increasing productivity has not consistently adapted its approaches to such heterogeneous conditions. This paper describes the challenges facing research, highlighting the importance of variation in evaluating the performance of soil management recommendations, integrating aspects of production risk management within the formulation of recommendations, and proposing alternative approaches to implement agronomic R4D. Approaches are illustrated using two multi-locational on-farm paired trials, each having one no-input control treatment and a treatment with fertilizer application for maize in Western Kenya and for beans in Eastern Rwanda. The diversity of treatment responses should be embraced rather than avoided to gain a better understanding of current context and its relation with past management

Long-term performance of organic crop rotations in the tropics: First results from a high and a medium potential site in sub-humid Central Kenya

Organic Agriculture is perceived by many stakeholders as a promising approach to increase food security in developing countries. However, only few attempts have been made so far to assess agronomic and economic performance of Organic Agriculture in these regions in a systematic way. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), together with its partners, is presently establishing long-term comparisons of farming systems in various agro-ecological and socio-economic contexts to study the different parameters that are essential for sustainable development. To date, three study areas have been selected: (a) a sub-humid area in Kenya where farming is subsistence-oriented; (b) a semi-arid area in India where cotton is produced for the export market; and (c) a humid area in Bolivia where cacao and other perennial products are produced for the export and domestic markets. The key elements are replicated long-term field trials. These are complemented by farm surveys and short-term trials under on-farm conditions. This network of comparison of farming systems in the tropics is expected to (1) put the discussion on the benefits and drawbacks of Organic Agriculture on a rational basis; (2) help to identify challenges for Organic Agriculture that can then be addressed systematically; (3) provide physical reference points for stakeholders in agricultural research and development and thus support agricultural policy dialogue at different levels. In Kenya, the two trials sites are located in a high potential zone in Meru South District (Chuka) and in a medium potential zone in Maragua District (Thika). They consist of four treatments: conventional and organic, each at a low and a high input level, representing subsistence oriented and commercial farming, respectively. Maize, brassicas and maize were planted during the first, second and third season respectively in both organic and conventional plots. In the first three seasons, we found the following results: in Chuka, organic yields of the low input treatments were on average 4% lower than conventional yields. On the high input level, organic yields were 6% lower. In Thika, organic yields were on average 57% (low input level) and 33% (high input level) lower than conventional yields. It is assumed that the organic crops in Chuka could benefit from N and P mobilisation from the soil. In Thika, where N and P were probably less available, the crop depended on the easily soluble nutrients applied in the conventional treatments. The effect of lower nutrient availability in the organic treatments in Thika was possibly aggravated by serious drought spells during the second and third season. The questions of interest are a) whether the organic treatments can keep the yield level of the conventional treatments in Chuka or if they will go through a depression typical for conversion from conventional to Organic Agriculture; and b) if the organic treatments can improve soil fertility and thus the organic yield levels in Thika in the coming years

Worldwide Contrast in Application of Bio-Fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture: Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa

The use of bio-fertilizers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is low compared to selected developed and Asian countries. The later have perceived the products as useful and have invested in use of bio-fertilizers in their agricultural systems. Effective regulations in developed and selected Asian countries have enhanced the availability of high quality products. Conversely, lack of awareness, infrastructure, skill and absence of a supportive regulatory framework in SSA has negatively impacted the use of bio-fertilizers. This review aims at pointing out what SSA could learn from selected developed and Asian countries to improve the availability and adoption of high quality bio-fertilizers. The benefits in terms of biological nitrogen fixation, nutrient uptake, yield increases, cost saving, and utilization constraints are discussed to create awareness of stakeholders interested in the agricultural application of the technology in SSA. Keywords: bio-fertilizer, availability, adoption, profitability, sub-Saharan Afric