Four Seasons of Learning and Engaging Smallholder Farmers - icrisat

In order of importance, the largest groundnuts production regions of Tanzania are Shinyanga, Dodoma,
Tabora and Mtwara accounting for over 60% of the national production. Mtwara and Western Shinyanga
have slightly better rainfall distribution and can accommodate some of the medium duration Virginia
groundnuts whereas Spanish early duration varieties are more adapted to the rest of the country (Figure 3-1).
Figure 3-1: Groundnut area (000 ha) and production (000 MT) in Tanzania (2001/02- 2004/05)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Shinyanga Dodoma Tabora Mtwara
Area
Production
Area
Production
Source: MAFSC (2005).
Table 3-4 below presents area under groundnut in Mozambique. Similar to Malawi and Tanzania, there
is an area increase trend from 2002 when the area was 329,000 ha to 2008 when the area reached
459,000 ha. About 99% of the area under groundnut is cultivated by small-scale peasant farmers on
traditional farms and the crop is important as a subsistence food crop, oil extraction, as well as source
of cash. The main varieties are farmer’s local varieties, Bebiano Blanco, Mamane and Nematil. The
availability of good quality seed is considered to be a pre-requisite to improve agricultural productivity.
Generally, the use of inputs (including improved seed, P and K fertilizers) and equipment in agriculture
is very low and this is reflected in crop yield. For southern Mozambique (Inhambane, Gaza and
Maputo) the focus is on high yielding short duration varieties (90 – 110 days) with resistance to ELS and
rust. For northern Mozambique (Nampula, Zambezia, Cabo Delgado) the major focus is on mediumduration
varieties (110 – 130 days) with resistance to rosette, and ELS. For the whole country, the
strategy is to provide varieties and agronomic packages targeting reduction of aflatoxin contamination.
nga Dodoma Tabora Mtwara
Breeding
Varietal traits preferred by farmers
Farmer Participatory Variety Selection (PVS) gives farmers an opportunity to select varieties from a range
of near-finished materials in the breeding process, which are then proposed for release. However, this
farmer participatory exercise also gives breeders the opportunity to understand the criteria farmers
use in the selection process and identify farmer and market preferences. For TL II, this activity was
therefore implemented for three key reasons, namely: to identify local and market evaluative criteria
for groundnut varieties, to determine the performance of promising varieties for release, and to identify
farmer- and market-preferred varieties.
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Engaging Smallholder Farmers | Tropical Legumes II Project