MALAWI CROSS SITE LEARNING TRIP
5TH -8TH MARCH 2014
1. BACKGROUND
The Africa RISING project for East and Southern Africa operates in Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. In all the three countries, the project focuses on small scale resource poor farmers; who operate in diverse agro-ecological and farming system typologies. The purpose of this cross site learning trip was to provide an opportunity to project implementers in Zambia and Tanzania to share experiences with their counterparts and Africa RISING project-collaborating farmers in Malawi.
2. ITINERARY
5.3.2014: arrival in Lilongwe, overnight at Michiru & Country Lodges; Lilongwe
6.3.2014: Field trip to Golomoti and Kasese villages in Dedza district, overnight at Mapiri Country Golf Lodge, Dedza
7.3.2014: Field trip to Linthipe in Ntcheu district; travelled back to Lilongwe, overnight at Michiru & Country Lodge; Lilongwe
8.3.2014: Departure from Lilongwe
3. OBSERVATIONS AND LESSONS
3.1 Project leader in Malawi and field trip organizer: Dr. Regis Chikowo, Co-PI Africa RISING Malawi , Michigan State University-
3.2 Sites visited:
3.2.1 Golomoti: Low altitude area. We visited one mother trial site and two baby trial sites.
Mother site: Mr. Benedicto Damson; Altitude: 575masl. Treatments at this site consisted of groundnut /p.pea intercrop, maize/p.pea intercrop, purestand cowpeas and maize with / without fertilizer. The crops were planted on ridges 75cm apart versus farmers’ practice where ridge to ridge distance is1metre.
Dr.Ckikowo described the mother – babytrial concept, as an adaptive experimentation approach where mothersites and baby sites are planted concurrently. Each mother has 40 -50 babies. Researchers and all ‘baby farmers”actively participate in planting the mother site.The theory behind intercropping leguminous crops is to “double up fertility”. In the coming year, plots under the leguminous crops will be sown to maize to determine nitrogen recovery. A student with the Washing State University is attached to this project to determine fertility gains associated with these treatments.
Baby trial site: Agnes Stephen: Usamala village. Treatments composition: -mono-groundnuts, soybean /p.pea intercrop, pure stand maize and maize / p.pea intercrop. According to the farmer, the area under maize this year was under legumes last year. The crop was treated with NPK and Urea at half rate. Its performance was much better than plots treated with same amount of mineral fertilizers but with no record of legume –cereal rotation. She picked up this new innovation from the mother site
3.2.2: Kasese village –Kandeu Extension Planning Area – Ntcheu district.
Mother trial site: Mr. Green Charles: Elevation: 923masl.
Treatments: - Pure stand soybean, monocrop groundnuts and ratoon p.pea /maizeintercrop planted on ridges. Farmers practiced how to mix seed with rhizobia. Performance of soybean was excellent. Previous p.pea crop was cut back in October to trigger a ratoon crop this year. The purpose for ratooning was to reduce yearly expenses on seed. However performance of the ratoon crop was not as good as envisaged due to soil moisture stress associated with delayed onset of the annual rains.
Caution: Pigeon pea is prone to infection by Fusarium. Therefore farmers are advised to observe three-year crop rotation
Mother site: Grace Phonya: Elevation 906masl.
Treatments at this site were similar to the previous sites: Groundnuts, maize/p.pea and soybean.Judging from the appearance of the crop, soil fertility at this site was much less than in the first site. Soybean vigour at this site was not as good as in the other sites. There was considerable treatment variation. Details on these variations were not adequately elaborated.
3.2.3. Linthipe –Mbidzi village
Visited two mother trial sites and a demonstration run by CIAT.
Mother trial site1; Mr.Kyembekezo
Incidentally, our visit coincided with a field day. Treatments consisted of both pure stand and intercrops: (i) monocrops - soybean, maize, groundnut and cowpeas. (ii) intercrops - maize/p.pea, soybean/p/pea and groundnut/p.pea. An adjacent plot under healthy pure stand maize was sown to soybean last season.
Performance of the second mother site was similar to the first one.
Farmer’s comments: The legumes have three benefits: soil fertility enhancement, contribution to household income and improvement of nutrition
CIAT site: Sown to climbing bean varieties and maize / bean intercrop. The site was not well managed
Main observations:
(i) New Innovations: Pigeon peas, intercropping maize and pigeon peas, legume/legume intercropping and close spacing between ridges. Unlike groundnuts and cowpeas, pigeon pea is a relatively new crop. The aim of the groundnut/p.pea and soybean/p.pea intercrop is to double nitrogen input into the soil, and to maximize productivity gains within a unit area. Groundnut and soybean are early maturing crops versus pigeon peas which is slow growing and late maturing. The hypothesis here is that under the intercropping pattern, there is minimal yield penalty on the early maturing crops and the legume-legume combination doubles up nitrogen levels.
(ii)Integration of detailed scientific studies. A student from Washington State University is attached to the project to determine root biomass at different soil depth and extent of nutrient recovery. This approach provides detailed scientific insight of the observable responses. It adds value to the project.
(iii) Mother–Baby trial approach: The ratio of “one mother” to 40-50 “babies” is a fast track dissemination approach. It has high potential for creating wide impact within a relatively short period.
(iv) Enhancement of uptake of old technologies: Crop rotation is an old agricultural practice. Through this project, farmers are witnessing better performance of maize crop associated with soybean/groundnut–maize sequence under their own farm conditions. This experience stimulates adoption of crop rotation as is the case with Agnesin Usamala village
(v) Linkage/Collaboration with development partners:The project collaborates with the Extension Planning Area at district level, Washington State University and CIAT.
(vi) Field days: Our visit coincided with a field day at Kyembekezo. The event exposes new technologies to farmers outside the project, and fosters uptake by the wider community.
(vii)Integration of fodder for feed and landscape management: did not feature during the field tour. It is an important component which fits well under sustainable intensification.
(viii)Soil fertility gradient across sites. Plant vigour variation was evident both across sites and between fertilizer treatments. This supports the rationale for including soil fertility studies under Africa RISING project
Key Lessons:
(i)The high ratio of one ‘mother” to 40-50 “babies” is a powerful pathway for reaching out small holder farmers in remote areas within a short timeframe, especially when it is combined with field days. It enables targeted beneficiaries to validate performance of the new technology under their farm and enhances trickle - down effect from farmer–to-farmer. By engaging such a large number of farmers to run the “babies” this approach reduces/eliminates the need to test a particular technology over a protracted period. In practice, ‘baby sites” serve as multi location sites which provide reliable information both on agronomic performance and acceptability of the candidate technology to farmers.
(ii)Strategic collaboration between stakeholders optimize synergy and speeds up development of impact tailored packages. For instance the legume/legume intercrop scenario as a new approach for boosting soil fertility. While the Extension services in Malawi work very closely with farmers on double-legume intercropping, the USAID has attached astudent to the project, to come up with scientific data quantifying nutrient input into the system. CIAT is also testing different climbing bean varieties for intercropping with maize. Results from this study is likely to establish the right maize/climber variety combination as well as optimal spacing for higher productivity
(iii)Scope for improving maize /climbing bean intercropping under sustainable intensification: Intercropping climbing beans with maize is common practice in Dedza and Ntcheu, where maize stems offer support to the trailing climbing bean stems. In some cases, the climbers seem to strangle maize plants. There is scope for testing this practice outside Malawi but of course going further to evaluate yield penalties associated with different maize/climbing bean intercropping options
(iv) Double Legume Intercrop adoption probability: Studies are in progress to establish soil fertility gains from this new practice. The results are bound to provide valuable scientific insight.In principle,legume/legume intercropping is likely to be readily adopted in areas where crop rotation is common. However, the adoption rate may be quite different in communities where crop rotation is uncommon and cereals do fetch higher priority over legumes. It would be valuable to factor-in socio-economic data into this component
What was the feedback of the participants? What advise did they give to Regis?
There was no formal feedback to Regis except for impromptu questions and remarks at specific sites during the field tour. The timetable missed out a wrap up session.
Dr. Regis highlighting double legume intercropping (top left), discussions
amongst hosts and some of the visitors (right) and close up P.pea/Gnut intercrop
(bottom) in Golomot village
Appendix 2
Agnes Stephen sharing experience on “double legume” intercropping with visitors to
her plot –Usamala village
Appendix 1
Appendix 3
Maize/bean climbing bean intercrop in farmer’s plot, Kasese village
Appendix 4
Excellent performance- p.pea/ground nut intercrop, monocrop soybean and monocrop ground nut
– Kasese village
Appendix 5
Soybean monocrop, p.pea /soybean intercrop, maize/p.pea intercrop (top) and farmer’s plot
under maize /climbing bean intercrop -Kasese village
Appendix 6
Researchers (top left) and farmers (top right) during field day debriefing and cheerful
young generation of A-R project beneficiaries (bottom)
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