In an effort to
attain food security for a growing population and alleviating poverty, there is
a need for a paradigm shift in farming practices through eliminating
unsustainable parts of conventional agriculture (ploughing/tilling the soil,
removing all organic material, monoculture) for future productivity gains while
sustaining the natural resources. Depletion of natural resources, negative
impacts of climatic change, exorbitant cost of inputs and volatile food prices
are the major challenges facing most of the African countries.
In response to
the low productivity and perceived negative environmental impact of
conventional farming practices, a considerable number of farmers in Kenya
are now adopting Conservation agriculture (CA) more than before. Conservation
agriculture combines minimum tillage, retention of crop residues and use of
crop rotations/ association. As opposed to the conventional practice, CA
strengthens soil structure, improves water retention and reduces the production
costs while improving the crop yields and soil health. Low production cost is
attributed to low usage of external inputs and labour cost saving.This means that it can be adopted by
the poorest and most vulnerable farming communities, as well as by those that
can afford varying levels of mechanization and external inputs.
“I used to spend well over $370
in my 3 acre piece of land for land preparation, planting and buying seeds but I
would hardly harvest anything as all my crops would dry up before maturity as a
result of drought.“My farm has kept improving
overtime since starting CA in 2013. This season (Short rain 2016), I’m
expecting to harvest at least 30bags of Maize, which is 5 times higher than
what I got last season after spending $180 for Land preparation, Planting, Weeding and inputs.”Says Ann Waweru during a
field interview.
Ann Waweru is
one of the 200 Lead farmers in the CA4FS project being implemented by ACT
through a grant from the Alliance
for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The project began on July 2013 and geographical
focus is Machakos and Laikipia counties of Kenya. To promote adoption, the project
has reached 20,000 farmers through practical demonstrations, field days, trainings,
exhibitions and conferences.The
project has been focussed in promoting the adoption of conservation agriculture
(CA) as a sustainable option for meeting the rising food and income demands in
the country. The areas have predominantly small holder farmers with few
pockets of large scale farmers.
In the
scientific trials, maize and sorghum were used as the main crop and legumes
(Dolichos lablab and Pigeon peas) were used as intercrops. The results from the
project trials show that CA systems produced higher grain yields than
conventional tillage. Maize yield per ha under conventional practice was 1.0 to
1.5 tons which was much lower than 2.3-3.2 tons under CA practices. There was
higher yield in drier periods with CA which shows that conservation tillage improves
water-use efficiency and greater water holding capacity. Almost the same
situation found that biomass yield for maize was higher under conservation
tillage at 80% to 110 % higher with CA compared to conventional tillage.
Table 1. Yield comparison between
conservation agriculture and Conventional tillage for major crops in Machakos
and Laikipia Counties
of Kenya
Crop type
|
Crop yield (t/ha)
|
Yield increase (t/ha)
|
Percentage
Increase
|
|
Conservation
tillage
|
Conventional
tillage
|
|||
Maize (with Dolichos lablab intercrop)
|
2.3-3.2
|
1.0-1.5
|
1.3-1.7
|
100-150
|
Sorghum (With Pigeon pea intercrop)
|
3.3-3.6
|
1.3-1.8
|
2.0-1.8
|
100-150
|
In the last 3
years, adoption of CA has grown from 2240Ha to 3000Ha in Laikipia. To encourage
Mechanization, specially designed hand CA tools (rippers, Weed scrapper) are
manufactured locally by the local artisans. They cost between 3$ to $6 compared
to $8 to $ 15 for the conventional practice.
Results of Gross Margin assessment of the
different treatments of the project show that it would be profitable for the
farmers in Machakos and Laikipia to adopt the use of conservation agriculture
(CA) in their farms. Gross margin of $1363/Ha was found in CA practice which translates
to virtually 250 % increment from the conventional practice. The Conventional
tillage practice exhibited negative gross margin implying that even when
mineral fertilizer is used to boost crop yield, CA is critical to provide favourable
growth conditions and conducive environment for nutrients uptake by the crops. The
total variable costs were about twice lower with CA resulting to a dramatic
gross margin than the conventional tillage. Therefore less labor and higher net
returns make for higher profitability per labor with Conservation agriculture.
