On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi
This study evaluated the performance of tree legumes and other soil fertility management innovations used by farmers. The objectives of the study were to: examine the extent that farm attributes, typology of farmers and field management practices have affected the adaptation and use of agroforestry...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2009
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43909 |
| _version_ | 1855523018914136064 |
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| author | Akinnifesi, F.K. Sileshi, Gudeta W. Franzel, Steven Ajayi, Oluyede C. Harawa, R. Makumba, W Chakeredza, Sebastian Mngomba, S Wolf, J.J. de Chianu, Jonas N. |
| author_browse | Ajayi, Oluyede C. Akinnifesi, F.K. Chakeredza, Sebastian Chianu, Jonas N. Franzel, Steven Harawa, R. Makumba, W Mngomba, S Sileshi, Gudeta W. Wolf, J.J. de |
| author_facet | Akinnifesi, F.K. Sileshi, Gudeta W. Franzel, Steven Ajayi, Oluyede C. Harawa, R. Makumba, W Chakeredza, Sebastian Mngomba, S Wolf, J.J. de Chianu, Jonas N. |
| author_sort | Akinnifesi, F.K. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | This study evaluated the performance of tree legumes and other soil fertility management innovations
used by farmers. The objectives of the study were to: examine the extent that farm attributes, typology of
farmers and field management practices have affected the adaptation and use of agroforestry technologies for
soil fertility management and compare the agronomic performance and farmer assessment of agroforestry and
other soil fertility management options, across a wide range of farmer types and field conditions, with a view
to establishing the contribution of management variables to variations in yield estimation. Maize yield and
farmer rating were assessed in Type II (researcher-designed, farmer-managed), Type III (farmer-designed and
managed) trials and extension farmers. Results from 152 farmers show that agroforestry increased the yield of
maize by 54-76% compared to unfertilized sole maize used as the control. When amended with fertilizer, the yield
increase over the control was 73-76% across tree species. This indicates that farmers who had combined
agroforestry with inorganic fertilizer experienced increase in maize yield attributable to the synergy between
organic and inorganic fertilizer. In gliricidia-maize intercropping, higher maize yield was obtained by farmers who
pruned twice. Combination of two prunings and fertilizer use gave the highest yield increase (148%) over the
control and the third pruning was superfluous when fertilizer was applied. Without fertilizer, maize yield in
agroforestry plots intercropped with pigeon pea was higher than those plots without pigeon pea. Planting date,
fertilizer application, use of agroforestry and maize variety explained about 44% of the variation in maize yield
on farmers fields. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace43909 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publishDateRange | 2009 |
| publishDateSort | 2009 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace439092025-09-08T09:09:11Z On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi Akinnifesi, F.K. Sileshi, Gudeta W. Franzel, Steven Ajayi, Oluyede C. Harawa, R. Makumba, W Chakeredza, Sebastian Mngomba, S Wolf, J.J. de Chianu, Jonas N. fallow systems legumes agroforestry sustainability small farms maize soil fertility fertilizers malawi sistemas con barbecho leguminosas agroforesteria sostenibilidad explotación en pequeña escala maíz fertilidad del suelo abonos This study evaluated the performance of tree legumes and other soil fertility management innovations used by farmers. The objectives of the study were to: examine the extent that farm attributes, typology of farmers and field management practices have affected the adaptation and use of agroforestry technologies for soil fertility management and compare the agronomic performance and farmer assessment of agroforestry and other soil fertility management options, across a wide range of farmer types and field conditions, with a view to establishing the contribution of management variables to variations in yield estimation. Maize yield and farmer rating were assessed in Type II (researcher-designed, farmer-managed), Type III (farmer-designed and managed) trials and extension farmers. Results from 152 farmers show that agroforestry increased the yield of maize by 54-76% compared to unfertilized sole maize used as the control. When amended with fertilizer, the yield increase over the control was 73-76% across tree species. This indicates that farmers who had combined agroforestry with inorganic fertilizer experienced increase in maize yield attributable to the synergy between organic and inorganic fertilizer. In gliricidia-maize intercropping, higher maize yield was obtained by farmers who pruned twice. Combination of two prunings and fertilizer use gave the highest yield increase (148%) over the control and the third pruning was superfluous when fertilizer was applied. Without fertilizer, maize yield in agroforestry plots intercropped with pigeon pea was higher than those plots without pigeon pea. Planting date, fertilizer application, use of agroforestry and maize variety explained about 44% of the variation in maize yield on farmers fields. 2009 2014-10-02T08:32:56Z 2014-10-02T08:32:56Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43909 en Open Access |
| spellingShingle | fallow systems legumes agroforestry sustainability small farms maize soil fertility fertilizers malawi sistemas con barbecho leguminosas agroforesteria sostenibilidad explotación en pequeña escala maíz fertilidad del suelo abonos Akinnifesi, F.K. Sileshi, Gudeta W. Franzel, Steven Ajayi, Oluyede C. Harawa, R. Makumba, W Chakeredza, Sebastian Mngomba, S Wolf, J.J. de Chianu, Jonas N. On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi |
| title | On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi |
| title_full | On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi |
| title_fullStr | On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi |
| title_short | On-farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi |
| title_sort | on farm assessment of legume fallows and other soil fertility management options used by smallholder farmers in southern malawi |
| topic | fallow systems legumes agroforestry sustainability small farms maize soil fertility fertilizers malawi sistemas con barbecho leguminosas agroforesteria sostenibilidad explotación en pequeña escala maíz fertilidad del suelo abonos |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43909 |
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