The Role of Mucuna pruriens in Smallholder Farming Systems of Eastern and Southern Africa: A Review

2019 ◽  
pp. 485-498
Author(s):  
Tarirai Muoni ◽  
Ingrid Öborn ◽  
Blessing Mhlanga ◽  
Irene Okeyo ◽  
Mary Mutemi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Mucuna Pruriens ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Smallholder Farming Systems ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

scholarly journals Understanding Adoption and Impacts of Conservation Agriculture in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hambulo Ngoma ◽  
Arild Angelsen ◽  
Thomas S. Jayne ◽  
Antony Chapoto
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa ◽  
Capital Intensive

Conservation Agriculture (CA) aims to concurrently promote agricultural productivity, local livelihoods, climate resilience and other environmental objectives. We review the emerging evidence base in Eastern and Southern Africa to address whether CA is climate smart and why adoption rates by smallholders remain generally very low. We first develop an adoption framework that can be used to assess when and where the different components of CA are expected to be adopted under different conditioning factors and consider options to make CA climate smart. Our results suggest that CA can contribute positively to productivity and adaptation/resilience objectives, although the degree of success varies considerably by farm, household and regional characteristics. Overall, we find that capital-intensive (mechanized) CA is more likely to be adopted in areas of economic dynamism where capital is cheap relative to labor. Labor-intensive CA practices are more likely to be adopted in regions of economic stagnation where capital is expensive, and labor is abundant and cheap. A subnational focus is needed to identify economic conditions of different regions and agro-ecological zones and to test hypotheses derived from the framework in this paper and to propose the most appropriate CA packages for promotion. Our findings suggest that labor using variants of CA such as planting basins are more likely to be adopted than are capital using mechanized options in densely populated parts of Malawi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe where labor is abundant, and presumably cheap, but capital is expensive. However, rising land scarcity (prices) and wages in the region present an opportunity for capital intensive, mechanized CA operations to be adopted if the cost of capital can be kept low and if there is a supportive environment for mechanization. We conclude that CA is climate smart and if adopted widely, it has the potential to help build resilience in smallholder farming systems. CA can be more climate smart, and its uptake can be enhanced by reframing, better targeting, adapting CA to location-specific economic and biophysical, and through greater and more effective public spending on agricultural research and development.

scholarly journals A research agenda to explore the role of conservation agriculture in African smallholder farming systems

2011 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken E. Giller ◽  
Marc Corbeels ◽  
Justice Nyamangara ◽  
Bernard Triomphe ◽  
Francois Affholder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Smallholder Farming Systems

scholarly journals Sustainable Intensification with Cereal-Legume Intercropping in Eastern and Southern Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abednego Kiwia ◽  
David Kimani ◽  
Rebbie Harawa ◽  
Bashir Jama ◽  
Gudeta W. Sileshi
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Pigeon Pea ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Sustainable Intensification ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Inorganic Fertilizers ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa ◽  
Cereal Yields

Much research has been conducted on cereal-legume intercropping as a sustainable intensification (SI) practice in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA). However, the role of inorganic fertilizers in sustainably intensifying intercropping systems has not been systematically analyzed. Therefore, the objective of the present analysis was to assess the role of inorganic fertilizer use in cereal-pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) intercropping in terms of SI indicators, namely, yield, production risks, input use efficiency, and economic returns. The data used for this analysis were gathered from over 900 on-farm trials across Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. All SI indicators assessed showed that intercropping combined with application of small amounts of inorganic fertilizers is superior to unfertilized intercrops. Fertilizer application in the intercropping system improved cereal yields by 71–282% and pigeon pea yields by 32–449%, increased benefit–cost ratios by 10–40%, and reduced variability in cereal yields by 40–56% and pigeonpea yields by 5–52% compared with unfertilized intercrops. Improved yields and reduced variability imply lowering farmers’ risk exposure and improved credit rating, which could enhance access to farm inputs. We conclude that the strategic application of small amounts of inorganic fertilizers is essential for the productivity and economic sustainability of cereal-pigeonpea intercropping under smallholder farming in ESA.

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