Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

what is feasible is to intercrop, with maize always being one of the crops. Intercroppingis also desired as it allows the farmers to spread the risks (within the same small field)so that if one crop fails the other may produce something.Implements usedImplements used in conservation agriculture systems include manual hand hoes(TZS 3000), slasher or panga (TZS 2000), animal-drawn implements such as kniferoller(TZS 300,000), draught-animal power direct planter (TZS 120,000), anddraught-animal power ripper with option of planter attachment (TZS 150,000).The hand jab planter is meant for planting through crop residues and crop coverwith no tillage. See colour section for different animal-drawn and hand conservationagriculture implements.TFSC has used subsoilers on several farm (28 farmers) but due to the high cost ofhiring the equipment (TZS 60,000 or USD 60 per acre) diffusion was slow and insome places it never took place.Through the CASARD project a number of conservation agriculture implements(knife rollers, no-till planters, jab planters, rippers) were imported from Brazilin 2004 and have been used by farmers in the FFS groups. These conservationagriculture implements have different options to suit different categories of farmers.The jab planter was for hand-hoe users while direct seed planters were for draughtanimalusers. Institutions promoting these conservation agriculture technologieshad intensive demonstration sessions and supplied leaflets as operational manuals.The jab planter is popular because it is cheap, easy to operate and available locally.The direct seed planter is more complicated to use because of the need to calibratethe seed rate and manage the harnessing. For farmers with small plots the jabplanter is the right tool. Nandra is the main supplier of rippers, jab planters, chiselploughs and ripper planters.Inability to purchase or hire conservation agriculture implements is one of thesignificant constraints to adopting conservation agriculture. It affect all typesof farmers although in different ways. Some of the implements are not readilyavailable in Karatu District or even in nearby regions.8 Entry points, driving forcesEntry point for small-scale farmersIn Karatu because of the dry conditions ripping with draught-animal power wasapplied as a rainwater-harvesting practice. The primary entry point for farmersadopting conservation agriculture was to increase yields with reduced cost ofproduction and reduced amount of labour.Farmers were ready to start with animal-drawn rippers because they were familiarwith the use of ox ploughs and they welcomed any technology that would help themoffset the devastation of the rampant drought, which they had experienced for about80 Ringo et al.