Grain Legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in ... - cimmyt
Grain Legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in ... - cimmyt
Grain Legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in ... - cimmyt
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Abstract<br />
LINKING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION WITH<br />
MARKET COMPETITIVENESS: PIGEONPEA IN THE SEMI-ARID<br />
AREAS OF'MALAWI AND TANZANIA<br />
JOSEPH RUSIKE, GABRIELE LO MONACO <strong>and</strong> GEOFF M. HEINRICH<br />
/eR/SAT, Matopos Research Station, PO Box 776, Bu/awayo, Zimbabwe<br />
<strong>Legumes</strong> have long been grown <strong>in</strong> smallholder farm<strong>in</strong>g systems throughout Southern <strong>and</strong> Eastern Africa <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>tercrops<br />
<strong>and</strong> rotations with cereals. <strong>Legumes</strong> play an important role as food <strong>and</strong> cash crops, livestock feed, as a soil fertility<br />
amendment through biological Nrfixation (BNF) <strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong> firewood, Because of recent <strong>in</strong>creases <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational <strong>and</strong> domestic<br />
prices of <strong>in</strong>organic fertilizers, there has been more <strong>in</strong>terest to exp<strong>and</strong> legume plant<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> management <strong>in</strong><br />
smallholder areas especially <strong>in</strong> the semi-arid areas <strong>in</strong> order to provide a low-cost supply of nutrients, This paper uses<br />
the sub sector approach to explore two hypotheses, First that farmer uptake of pigeon pea-based technologies is driven by<br />
improvements <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>put <strong>and</strong> output markets. Second that l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g technology development <strong>and</strong> uptake pathways with <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
competitiveness of pigeon pea products <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational <strong>and</strong> domestic markets drives adoption of improved crop<br />
management practices, thereby enabl<strong>in</strong>g farmers to capture the potential soil fertility benefits of pigeonpea. The hypotheses<br />
are tested us<strong>in</strong>g farm survey <strong>and</strong> case study data from Malawi <strong>and</strong> Tan zania.<br />
The analysis shows that pigeonpea markets are now highly globalized <strong>and</strong> competitive. Pigeonpeas from Malawi <strong>and</strong><br />
Tanzania are los<strong>in</strong>g their competitiveness to pigeonpea from Myanmar <strong>and</strong> yellow pea substitutes from Canada <strong>and</strong><br />
France. To <strong>in</strong>crease the competitiveness of African pigeonpea <strong>and</strong> pull technologies through the system, crop variety<br />
improvement, choice of variety, seed distribution, production practices <strong>and</strong> more-efficient market<strong>in</strong>g arrangements need<br />
to be established target<strong>in</strong>g the needs <strong>and</strong> competitive patterns of specific identified markets.<br />
Key words: Pigeonpea-based technology, sub sector approach, competitiveness, uptake pathways, globalization<br />
Introduction<br />
<strong>Legumes</strong> have long been grown <strong>in</strong> smallholder<br />
farm<strong>in</strong>g systems throughout Southern <strong>and</strong> Eastern<br />
Africa <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>tercrops <strong>and</strong> rotations with cereals, <strong>Legumes</strong><br />
play an important role as food <strong>and</strong> cash crops;<br />
they also provide livestock feed <strong>and</strong> firewood, <strong>and</strong><br />
improve soil fertility through biological nitrogen<br />
fixation (BNF). Despite these multiple benefits,<br />
most households only allocate between 10 <strong>and</strong> 30<br />
percent of their total cropped area to legumes,<br />
mostly <strong>for</strong> subsistence food requirements<br />
(Rohrbach, 2001; Twomlow, 2001 ; Freeman, 2001;<br />
Semgal,2001), Farmers expla<strong>in</strong> that legume cultivation<br />
is limited by seed <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong> shortages, lack of<br />
money to buy mputs, high labor requii-ements, lack<br />
of cash markets, pests <strong>and</strong> diseases, <strong>and</strong> low yields,<br />
Start<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the mid-1990s, prices of <strong>in</strong>organic fertilizer<br />
escalated because national currencies depreciated<br />
<strong>and</strong> subsidies were removed under struchual<br />
adjustment programs. The escalation of <strong>in</strong>organic<br />
fertilizer prices has <strong>for</strong>ced farmers <strong>and</strong> scientists to<br />
look <strong>for</strong> cheaper substitutes, Researchers have hy"<br />
pothesized that because legumes provide a low-cost<br />
means of supply<strong>in</strong>g N to the cropp<strong>in</strong>g system, <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the area under legumes <strong>and</strong> improv<strong>in</strong>g legume<br />
residue management will enable smallholder<br />
farmers to reduce <strong>in</strong>organic fertilizer use <strong>and</strong> still<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> soil fertility,<br />
Researchers have identified pigeonpea as the "best<br />
bet" legume <strong>for</strong> semi-arid areas because the crop<br />
has a deep root system that makes it drought tolerant.<br />
It mobilizes unavailable soil phosphorus; it has<br />
high nitrogen fixation; it adds organic residues<br />
through leaf fall; it recycles nutrients lost from the<br />
root<strong>in</strong>g zone; <strong>and</strong> .it is semi-perennial, which reduces<br />
yield <strong>and</strong> production risk (Nene, 1991; S<strong>in</strong>gh,<br />
1991), Research <strong>in</strong>vestments by national programs,<br />
ICRlSAT, <strong>and</strong> other CGIAR centers have resulted <strong>in</strong><br />
the development <strong>and</strong> release of superior varieties<br />
<strong>and</strong> better crop management options, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>tercropp<strong>in</strong>g comb<strong>in</strong>ations, plant spac<strong>in</strong>g, patterns<br />
<strong>and</strong> dates of plant<strong>in</strong>g, fertilizer management, <strong>and</strong><br />
control of weeds, pests <strong>and</strong> diseases (Silim,<br />
Johansen, <strong>and</strong> Chauhan, 1991; Silim, 1992; Soko et al<br />
1995; Daudi <strong>and</strong>Mak<strong>in</strong>a, 1995; <strong>and</strong> Mbwaga, 1995),<br />
But adoption of these technologies rema<strong>in</strong>s limited,<br />
Surveys have shown that <strong>for</strong> farmers to adopt improved<br />
technologies <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>tensify legume production,<br />
collateral <strong>in</strong>vestments are needed to improve<br />
<strong>in</strong>put <strong>and</strong> output markets, In addition, legume <strong>in</strong>tensification<br />
needs to target poor households <strong>for</strong><br />
food <strong>for</strong> home consumption <strong>and</strong> wealthier house-<br />
<strong>Gra<strong>in</strong></strong> legumes <strong>and</strong> <strong>Green</strong> <strong>Manures</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Soil</strong> <strong>Fertility</strong> <strong>in</strong> Southern Africa 227