Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

Table 3. Yield increase from Alfred’s farm as the result of switching from conventional toconservation agricultureCropYield before conservationagriculture (bags/acre)Yields after conservation agriculture(bags/acre)Maize 7 18Wheat 3 10Finger millet 4 9Beans 2 6Farmers have explained the way they have increased the yield of beans by zero tillageand application of cover crops. ‘On one-third of an acre I planted just 9 kg of beansand harvested 1.5 bags. Other farmers who continued with conventional practicesharvested very little,’ Mama Elizabeth testified. Farmers described the way they savetime, labour and were relieved from drudgery by applying conservation agriculture.Several farmers have reported reduced costs of production by using conservationagriculture technologies. No tilling and low weed infestations have lowered thecost of production, as narrated above and shown in table 4. However, currently,conservation agriculture has not affected the community significantly. Adoption isstill at an initial stage, particularly in terms of the number of individuals who haveadopted the technologies and the partial nature of adoption. 5For instance, farmer Alfred has achieved some success in permanent soil covermanagement, hence better weed control and maximum conservation of soilmoisture. Conservation agriculture application saved labour (table 4).Under soil cover the number of weedings required has been reduced from three toone, and the task is eased as only uprooting the weeds is sufficient in some fields.Use of herbicides (mainly Round-Up) has been used in the early stage of 1–3 yearsof the establishment of cover crops. Generally, after reduced tillage and soil coverare adopted, weed infestation seems to decline; reduced or no tillage also reducesor removes them whereas ploughing merely replants them.Conservation agriculture fields retain soil moisture longer. Farmers using covercrops have reported a reduction in soil erosion and increased soil fertility.Table 4. Labour requirement by different activities in conventional and conservationagricultureActivity Conventional agriculture Conservation agricultureMethod Labour required Method Labour requiredLand prep.slash, hip,burn, plough3 persons x 6 days slash, spread 3 persons x 2–3daysSeeding hand hoe 4 persons x 3 days jab planter 2 persons x 2 daysWeeding hand hoe not mentioned buteasierscraping bypanganot mentioned buttakes more time5 Partial nature: adoption and application done on only part of the household’s fields; also,adopting some components of the system, for example, only keeping the soil covered and nottaking up other conservation agriculture practices.Karatu District 89