Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

fodder crops along the contours. He ripped his farm and did shallow uprooting ofweeds. He also planted maize, lablab and pigeon pea. Mama Hilda Chondo renteda piece of land and, despite being uncertain if she would have the land the nextseason, she ripped and planted maize with lablab and maize with pigeon pea. Shealso irrigated during the dry season.Some farmers use conservation agriculture on and off, depending on supplies,motivation from outsiders and the weather. Pastor Mbise from Sakila adhered toconservation agriculture during the Soil Conservation and Agroforestry project. Hisfarm had nicely done contours and he still has a ripper. However, after the projectwas phased out he despaired and reverted to conventional tillage, citing lack offinancial power to purchase certified seeds and herbicides.In Ngorbob village, weather dictated the amount of soil cover. Drought led to poorbiomass and soil cover. Lablab was greatly affected, just like other crops, by thedrought in 2002/03, making it impossible to benefit both the farmer and the soil.This led to some pioneer farmers abandoning soil cover and embracing ripping.Those who ripped their farms were able to sustain some crops.Experienced and innovative individuals, like Thomas Loronyo, who have been keento put into practice what they have been taught, have a well-defined farm layout withcontours and agroforestry. Such farmers embrace technology from different sourcesto improve their food security and pass on knowledge to other farmers. Accordingto Loronyo, while he has managed to adopt land ripping and crop rotation, hefailed completely to adopt permanent soil cover because of drought, termites andfree-range grazing. However, he is happy with ripping, since maize yields increasedthreefold and have been able to withstand at least some drought.Among livestock keepers, maize stover is still being removed from the field for feed,while pigeon pea, mucuna, and lablab are left to provide cover. The introduction ofelephant grass has reduced dependence on crop residue and cover crops for animalfeed.Approaches and methodsThe main approaches and methods used to adapt, disseminate and scale upconservation agriculture include forming groups, especially farmer field schools,using innovative farmers, farmer visits, group visits, study tours, on-farm trials,demonstration plots, field days and extension publications.Most conservation agriculture organizations train individual farmers on certainconservation agriculture techniques as the main approach. RELMA in partnershipwith SCAPA mostly trained innovative farmers on agroforestry, contourdevelopment, and crop and livestock management. They wanted to develop farmertrainers who would later train other farmers. Diffusion was slow, since the farmertrainers were few and had social obligations. The farmer trainers were also not paidto teach their fellow farmers.Another common approach was the demonstration trial. SCAPA held demonstrationtrials to test and develop different systems of conservation tillage in partnershipwith farmers with varying rainfall, soil and farm machinery. This was done in threeArumeru District 27