FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W1499332208> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W1499332208 abstract "Soil infertility undermines the agriculture-based livelihoods in Malawi, where it is blamed for poor crop yields and the creation of cycles of poverty. Although technologies and management strategies have been developed to reverse the decline in soil fertility, they are under-used by smallholder farmers. This study was conducted to assess with farmers the performance of a range of maize-legume technologies and their benefits on soil fertility management in central Malawi. Farmer participatory experimentation was a focus of the study. The aim was to facilitate learning and the interpretation of experiences, improve the communication of information about the concepts and technologies to farmers, and provide insights for researchers.  Using a combination of survey and participatory methods, 136 smallholder farmers from Chisepo were grouped into four resource groups, comprising of better-resourced (RG 1 with 6 farmers), medium resourced (RG 2, 14 farmers), less well-resourced (RG 3, 64 farmers) and least-resourced groups (RG 4, 52 farmers). Analysing their livelihoods for their effects on soil fertility revealed that soil fertility management is a complex activity which is influenced by ownership of assets. Farmers from RG 1 and RG 2 owned more resources including cattle, had larger fields, hired-in labour for timely farm operations, earned more income and invested far more in soil fertility improvement. Farmers from RG 3 and 4 (who are in the large majority) were resource constrained and did not invest adequately in improving soil fertility. They had large food deficits due to poor crop yields. Ganyu labour (casual work done for other farmers for food or cash) was their main strategy to reduce food deficits. Farmers from all the four RGs were interested in working with research to explore strategies to improve soil fertility. They tested various grain- and green-manure-legumes, and mineral N and P fertiliser on maize and the legumes for effects on crop productivity and soil fertility. Associated production risk and interest in technology adoption were assessed. On-farm evaluation was done on maize (cv. MH18) in rotation with pigeonpea cv. ICP 9145,intercropped with groundnut (cv. CG 7), (Mz/Pp+Gn); intercropped with tephrosia (Mz+Tv); intercropped with pigeonpea (Mz+Pp) and in rotation with mucuna (Mz/Mp). These technologies were compared with sole crop maize without fertiliser (Mz−Ft) or with 35 kg N ha - 1 (Mz+Ft) in experiments with 32 farmers from the four RGs over four years. Economic and risk assessments were made. Maize grain yields (accumulated over the four years) were greater for farmers from RG 1 and 2 than RGs 3 and 4. Mz+Pp and Mz+Tv gave greater cumulative yields than Mz/Pp+Gn and Mz/Mp. The legumes improved maize grain yields by between 0.2 and 4 t ha - 1 (P - 1 to the legumes resulted in Mz+Tv, Mz/Pp+Gn and Mz/Mp being least risky to RG 1, RG2 and RG 3. Farmers in RG 1 had the highest returns to labour (USconv2.info.8 day -1 with Mz-Ft and US.1 day -1 with Mz+Pp) and these increased to 1.9 and 1.7 respectively with 35 kg N ha -1 . Mz+Pp intercrop gave consistent positive returns across the RGs and was the only technology to provide positive returns to labour in RG 4. Use of pigeonpea was overall the least risky option, and was especially suited to least-resourced farmers. Application of phosphorus fertiliser (0, 20 kg P ha -1 ) to legumes significantly (P = 0.05) increased grain and biomass yields for mucuna, groundnut, soyabean, Bambara groundnut and cowpea by 1.0, 0.8, 0.5, 1.0 and 0.3 t ha -1 compared with unfertilised plots. Cowpea and fertilised groundnut had larger yields in the home fields than middle fields, but other legumes performed better (P = 0.05) in the middle fields. Maize responses to small amounts of fertiliser (0, 15, and 30 kg N ha -1 and 0, 20 kg P ha -1 ) in two weeding regimes showed that weeding twice significantly (P -1 over weeding once (0.9 t ha -1 ). Stover yields (significant at P -1 respectively. Mean grain N kg ha -1 was 17.1 and 9.8 for plots weeded twice and once respectively while that of stover were 10.1 and 5.6 kg N ha -1 . Applying N at 15 kg N ha -1 increased maize yields, but the 30 kg N ha -1 increased yield only on more clay soils due to the effects of mid-season dry spells on sandy soils. Except for the physiological efficiency of N (PE N ), all agronomic indices of N use showed significant differences due to weeding (agronomic efficiency of applied fertiliser N (AE N ) at P N ) and partial factor productivity for N (PFP N ) at P N of 40.7and PFP N of 78.8 in plots weeded twice were within the ranges of 40–60 kg grain kg -1 N and 40–80 kg grain kg -1 N applied respectively. AE N and RE N values of 38.7 and 0.9 respectively were above the common range of 10-30 kg grain kg -1 N applied and 0.3-0.5 or 0.5–0.8 kg N kg -1 . Mean indices from plots weeded just once were all within the ranges stated above but lower than indices from plots weeded twice; suggesting the unsustainability of the use of fertiliser without means to raise its efficiency through better management or combination with organic resources. Weeding twice gave higher returns to labour (USconv2.info.30 day -1 ) than weeding once (USconv2.info.05 day -1 ) and gross margins of US5.00 and US.00 with labour taken into account respectively.Farmers need to ensure timely weeding to get decent efficiencies and returns from the fertiliser, especially in drier cropping seasons.    Using surveys, focus group discussions and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), adoption of the ten legumes introduced to farmers in Chisepo was assessed among 136 farmers in 2004 and 84 farmers in 2007. Thirty-five percent of the farmers in 2004 and 22% in 2007 had adopted at least one of the legumes, with food grain legumes predominantly soyabean, groundnut, pigeonpea and to a lesser extent Bambara groundnut and cowpea being most adopted. Mucuna and tephrosia were adopted by few farmers while sunnhemp and grahamiana were not adopted at all. Farmers from RGs 1 and 2 adopted more of the legumes than those from RG 3 and 4. Lack of consistent markets, a lack of seed for planting, as well as land and labour shortages were cited for weak adoption.   Soil fertility management by smallholder farmers is influenced by ownership of assets and the majority poorer farmers fail to invest adequately in improving soil fertility. In the absence of such resources, grain legumes will play an important role as a source of both food and organic matter to improve soil fertility. The participatory methods used in the study helped farmers better understand some of the soil fertility concepts and options, including the legumes. There is need to focus on how to assist farmers with practical knowledge to help them best combine organic and mineral fertiliser resources for improving soil fertility, and to develop and promote new dual-purpose legume options that feed humans and the soil. Key words : Adoption, analytical hierarchy process, crop yield, financial returns, food security, household assets, legume integration, livelihoods, NP fertiliser, nitrogen use efficiency, production risk, resource groups, smallholder, soil fertility, weeding." @default.
• W1499332208 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W1499332208 creator A5003346788 @default.
• W1499332208 date "2011-01-01" @default.
• W1499332208 modified "2023-09-27" @default.
• W1499332208 title "Poor people and poor fields? : integrating legumes for smallholder soil fertility management in Chisepo, central Malawi" @default.
• W1499332208 hasPublicationYear "2011" @default.
• W1499332208 type Work @default.
• W1499332208 sameAs 1499332208 @default.
• W1499332208 citedByCount "1" @default.
• W1499332208 countsByYear W14993322082014 @default.
• W1499332208 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W1499332208 hasAuthorship W1499332208A5003346788 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C118518473 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C144024400 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C144133560 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C149923435 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C159390177 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C159750122 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C162324750 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C166957645 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C205649164 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C2908647359 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C38774213 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C39432304 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C48824518 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C518429986 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C54286561 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C85675897 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConcept C91375879 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C118518473 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C144024400 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C144133560 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C149923435 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C159390177 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C159750122 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C162324750 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C166957645 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C205649164 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C2908647359 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C38774213 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C39432304 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C48824518 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C518429986 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C54286561 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C85675897 @default.
• W1499332208 hasConceptScore W1499332208C91375879 @default.
• W1499332208 hasLocation W14993322081 @default.
• W1499332208 hasOpenAccess W1499332208 @default.
• W1499332208 hasPrimaryLocation W14993322081 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W153606866 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W1872566199 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W1977996751 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W1988655896 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2011208839 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2035072142 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2040235498 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2042014251 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2061124864 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2082542718 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2127642301 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2140552635 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2142305252 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2168556443 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2185997621 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2464417760 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2566791868 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2898479048 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W2909657255 @default.
• W1499332208 hasRelatedWork W3158244790 @default.
• W1499332208 isParatext "false" @default.
• W1499332208 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W1499332208 magId "1499332208" @default.
• W1499332208 workType "article" @default.