Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

of maize and pigeon pea. Research undertaken by SARI has been strongly linkedto dissemination and training. Farmer field days have been held once a year to raiseawareness in the local community and to distribute cover crop seeds. In addition,a large demonstration site was established next to the monthly market ground tostimulate interest among much wider groups of farmers.Results from field trials conducted between 1999 and 2002 found subsoiled plotstypically yielded 4 t/ha whereas plots that had not been subsoiled yielded only0.75–1 t/ha (Mariki 2003). Cover crops were found to improve yields, soil nutrientstatus, soil moisture, rainwater capture and retention, total biomass and earthwormnumbers. The benefits were often further enhanced if maize stover was left in thefields. According to Bishop-Sambrook et al. (2004), these demonstrable benefitsled to about 250 farmers in Karatu, covering 150 ha, adopting the technologies by2003. By 2003, some farmers had privately continued subsoiling with the help ofTFSC.Gap and challenges: Limited funds and facilities hinder extension work and theintroduction of conservation agriculture practices. Currently, they are operatingonly in some areas of Karatu, Hanang and Babati Districts (Mariki 2003).Tanzania Farmers Service CentreAchievements: Tanzania Farmers Services Centre (TFSC) and FSC/DeutscheGesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ) have been promotingconservation agriculture in the belief that one of the major factors causing soildegradation is conventional tillage, that is, excessive ploughing by use of tractorand oxen ploughs or even the hand hoe, which together with removing or burningor grazing crop residues leaves the soil exposed to heavy rainfall, sun and wind.With the assistance GTZ, TFSC intervened to improve agriculture in KaratuDistrict. They offer farmers subsoiling services with a tractor (TZS 60,000 peracre) In collaboration with SARI, TFSC has a demonstration plot with cover cropsand minimum and no-tillage trials; it holds workshops and courses on sustainableagriculture, the use of agricultural machinery and efficient crop production; itsells agricultural machinery and spare parts; and it services agricultural machinery(Bishop-Sambrook et al. 2004). However, as a private company, it was moreinterested in promoting its tractor business and implements, hoping that farmersafter seeing the results of higher yields caused by subsoiling would buy its tractorsor hire the services. The centre worked in close collaboration with the government,especially SARI, for research purposes and to report achievements (Mariki 2003).Challenges: Small-scale farmers found centre prices not affordable. TFSCpreferred to work on large areas of not less than 50 acres at a time, while manysmall-scale farmers have an average of 2–4 acres. On the other hand, TFSCfaced major challenges when dealing with small-scale farmers whose farms werescattered. Some farmers were dishonest and would not declare the exact acreage ofthe area to be subsoiled; some did not pay their debts. Machine operators neededclose supervision. Thus, TFSC clients are large-scale farmers.Karatu District 75