15.03.2015 Views

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

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

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!