Improving the Food Security of Low-Resource Farmers: Introducing Horsegram Into Maize-Based Cropping Systems

Abstract

In the hilly areas of eastern Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh and southern Rajasthan, in western India, farmers are very resource-poor and cultivate small and fragmented land holdings. Maize is their main rainy season (kharif) cereal and it is grown as a rainfed crop in low-fertility fields, often on sloping land that is vulnerable to soil erosion. Its productivity is very low, averaging below 1 t ha −1 . New farm technologies to increase this productivity have to be low cost to be attractive to farmers who have limited access to purchased inputs and few means to purchase them. From observations of local farming practices, intercropping of maize with legumes was identified as an attractive option because the only additional input needed is seed of the legume crop. Participatory research was conducted on intercropping of maize with improved varieties of horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum). Many farmers who tried this intercropping adopted it in subsequent years, while others preferred to grow the new horsegram varieties as a sole crop. Farmers reported that less weeding was required in the intercrop as the horsegram smothered weeds. All farmers used the dry stover from the horsegram as a fodder for their animals. Farmers used the whole seed as dal, which provided additional protein in their diet. Farmers also sold the grain, but it fetched a low price in the poorly developed market for horsegram. Previously intercropping had been tried with local landraces, but the acceptance of intercropping was higher with new varieties such as AK-42 that yielded over 60% more grain. Participatory trials in which only one entry was compared with the local variety did not show a difference between AK-21 and AK-42 as in all cases both were preferred over the local variety. When they were directly compared with each other, farmers' perceptions showed a significant preference for AK-42. Variety IVH-2 was found to be better than AK-42: it matured 15 days earlier, better matching the maturity of the maize, had superior grain quality and yielded about the same. The greater uptake of improved horsegram varieties for sole and intercropping is likely to be limited by the lack of seed supply.

Horse gram- an underutilized nutraceutical pulse crop: a review

“…It is tolerant to drought (Bhardwaj and Yadav 2012), salinity (Reddy et al 1998) and heavy metal stresses (Reddy et al 2005). Horse gram mainly grown in India, Africa, Australia, Burma, Malaysia, Mauritius, and the West Indies (Jeswani and Baldev 1990) under low soil fertility status with few inputs (Witcombe et al 2008). It is adapted to wide range of temperature regimes (Smartt 1985) where other crops invariably fail to survive.…”

Climbing Legumes: An Underutilized Resource With Significant Potential to Intensify Farming on Terrace Walls (FTW) for Smallholder Farmers

“…It is widely cultivated, however limited attention has been paid to it in terms of genetic development or marketing, so it is still referred to as underutilized, similar to several other crops in this review. Nevertheless, horse gram shows promise because of its drought tolerance and nutritional qualities, along with the fact that it requires few inputs (Bravo et al ., 1999; Mehra and Upadhyaya, 2013; Siddhuraju and Manian, 2007; Witcombe et al ., 2008). It has been shown to be a good source of protein and carbohydrates, and potentially also iron and calcium as long as certain preparation methods are used to break down anti-nutritional compounds (Bravo et al ., 1999; Sudha et al ., 1995).…”

“…It has been shown to be a good source of protein and carbohydrates, and potentially also iron and calcium as long as certain preparation methods are used to break down anti-nutritional compounds (Bravo et al ., 1999; Sudha et al ., 1995). Participatory trials have been conducted that showed considerable success at addressing some of the challenges of resource poor farmers when horse gram was intercropped with maize in India (Witcombe et al ., 2008). Farmers reported that labour demand decreased due to ground cover provided (particularly female drudgery such as weeding), and they were able to harvest both grain for food and fodder for livestock from the crop (Witcombe et al ., 2008).…”

“…Participatory trials have been conducted that showed considerable success at addressing some of the challenges of resource poor farmers when horse gram was intercropped with maize in India (Witcombe et al ., 2008). Farmers reported that labour demand decreased due to ground cover provided (particularly female drudgery such as weeding), and they were able to harvest both grain for food and fodder for livestock from the crop (Witcombe et al ., 2008). There have also been studies conducted that showed improvement when horse gram was intercropped with finger millet (Pradhan, et al ., 2014).…”

“…Though all the crops reviewed show promise, some crops are worth highlighting: With respect to input replacement, African yam bean and jack bean have a particularly high capacity to provide nitrogen compared to other crops (Oagile et al ., 2007; Wortmann et al ., 2000). Jack and velvet bean have been shown to discourage nematodes (Arim et al ., 2006; Witcombe etal., 2008). In terms of drudgery reduction, horse gram has been shown to decrease the labour required for weeding by providing ground cover (Arim et al ., 2006; Witcombe et al ., 2008).…”