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Increasing crop yield in water scarce environments using locally available materials: An experience from semi-arid areas in Mpwapwa District, central Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Shemdoe, R.S.
  • Van Damme, P.
  • Kikula, I.S.

Abstract

This paper presents experience on working with farmers in water scarce environments in improving crop yield through the application of locally available materials in semi-arid areas of Mpwapwa District, central Tanzania. Findings are presented from the interdisciplinary study that involved documenting farmers perceptions and on-farm field experimentation. In the farmers' perceptions study, three different traditional tillage practices applied by smallholder farmers in the area were identified. These are traditional no-till (TNT), shallow tillage (ST) and ridging tillage (RT). The impacts of various tillage practices on soil fertility improvement, reduced weed infestation, soil moisture retention and crop yield were the main factors considered by farmers when selecting a particular tillage practice to apply. In two cropping seasons (i.e. 2006/7 and 2007/8) on-farm field experimentations were carried to test the effects of the three traditional tillage practices, manure and mulching practices on soil moisture retention and crop yield. Results from this experiment showed traditional no-till fields to have the lowest soil moisture retention capacity and the lowest infiltration flow rate as well as lowest crop yield compared to other studied practices. It was observed that improving the current tillage practices by the application of manure to both ST and RT, and mulching to ST at rates affordable to smallholder farmers as identified during perception study (i.e. 5tons/ha for manure and 3tons/ha for mulching materials) results in increased crop yield. When the grain yield is compared between traditional no-till and shallow tillage with manure and mulching practices, the yield increase is between 50 and 100%. It was concluded that crop yield in water scarce environments such as the semi-arid areas of Mpwapwa District can be increased by applying locally available materials such as cow manure and mulching at rates affordable to smallholder farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Shemdoe, R.S. & Van Damme, P. & Kikula, I.S., 2009. "Increasing crop yield in water scarce environments using locally available materials: An experience from semi-arid areas in Mpwapwa District, central Tanzania," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(6), pages 963-968, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:96:y:2009:i:6:p:963-968
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    Cited by:

    1. Imran Ejotre & DeeAnn M Reeder & Kai Matuschewski & Robert Kityo & Juliane Schaer, 2022. "Negative Perception of Bats, Exacerbated by the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic, May Hinder Bat Conservation in Northern Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Hannes J. König & Frieder Graef & Jana Schindler & Anja Fasse & Khamaldin Daud Mutabazi & Christine Lambert & Pamela Ngwenya & Götz Uckert & Henry Mahoo & Fred F. Hattermann & Stefan Sieber, 2017. "Combining participatory, qualitative and quantitative methods for impact assessment of food value chains into an integrated framework," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(6), pages 1309-1321, December.
    3. Guo, Fu-Xing & Wang, Yan-Ping & Hou, Ting-Ting & Zhang, Lin-Sen & Mu, Yan & Wu, Fu-yong, 2021. "Variation of soil moisture and fine roots distribution adopts rainwater collection, infiltration promoting and soil anti-seepage system (RCIP-SA) in hilly apple orchard on the Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).

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