Poor Farmers – Poor Yields: Socio-Economic, Soil Fertility and Crop Management Indicators Affecting Climbing Bean Productivity in Northern Rwanda

Abstract

SUMMARYClimbing bean is the key staple legume crop in the highlands of East and Central Africa. We assessed the impact of interactions between soil fertility characteristics, crop management and socio-economic factors, such as household resource endowment and gender of the farmer, on climbing bean productivity and yield responses to basal P fertiliser in northern Rwanda. Through a combination of detailed characterisations of 12 farms and on-farm demonstration trials at 110 sites, we evaluated variability in grain yields and responses to fertiliser. Grain yields varied between 0.14 and 6.9 t ha −1 with an overall average of 1.69 t ha −1 . Household resource endowment and gender of the farmer was strongly associated with climbing bean yield, even though these were partly confounded with Sector. Poorer households and women farmers achieved lower yields than wealthier households and male farmers. Household resource endowment and gender were likely to act as proxies for a range of agronomic and crop management factors that determine crop productivity, such as soil fertility, current and past access to organic manure and mineral fertiliser, access to sufficient quality staking material, ability to conduct crop management operation on time, but we found evidence for only some of these relationships. Poorer households and female farmers grew beans on soils with poorer soil fertility. Moreover, poorer households had a lower density of stakes, while stake density was strongly correlated with yield. Diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser application led to a substantial increase in the average grain yield (0.66 t ha −1 ), but a large variability in responses implied that its use would be economically worthwhile for roughly half of the farmers. For the sake of targeting agricultural innovations to those households that are most likely to adopt, the Ubudehe household typology -a Rwandan government system of wealth categorisation -could be a useful and easily available tool to structure rural households within regions of Rwanda that are relatively uniform in agro-ecology.

Assessing the Productivity of Common Bean in Intercrop with Maize across Agro-Ecological Zones of Smallholder Farms in the Northern Highlands of Tanzania

“…Further, the methods The same practice reduces the costs of crop production associated with the use of chemicals in controlling these reducing factors. Crop rotation reduces costs of equipment and peak labor requirements for field operations, increases interactions between the local community, and produces buffer market price fluctuations as they give direct sales [30]. Cereals and grain legumes sown in mixtures (diversification) and then rotated with pure cereals and/or grain legumes represent a sustainable intensification technology of improving food security for smallholder farmers [30].…”

“…Crop rotation reduces costs of equipment and peak labor requirements for field operations, increases interactions between the local community, and produces buffer market price fluctuations as they give direct sales [30]. Cereals and grain legumes sown in mixtures (diversification) and then rotated with pure cereals and/or grain legumes represent a sustainable intensification technology of improving food security for smallholder farmers [30]. The potential niche of grain legumes is wide due to their importance as a source of food and income, which is also displayed by the range of varieties and differences in their growth characteristics.…”

“…The potential niche of grain legumes is wide due to their importance as a source of food and income, which is also displayed by the range of varieties and differences in their growth characteristics. The yields of grain legumes are often low, but their production is labor-intensive for sowing, plant management (fertilization, weeding, spraying), harvesting, threshing, and storage [22,30]. In terms of yield productivity and return from labor, farmers may find that rotation of grain legumes and cereals is not an attractive practice [18,30].…”

“…The yields of grain legumes are often low, but their production is labor-intensive for sowing, plant management (fertilization, weeding, spraying), harvesting, threshing, and storage [22,30]. In terms of yield productivity and return from labor, farmers may find that rotation of grain legumes and cereals is not an attractive practice [18,30]. However, literature shows that the impact of grain legumes on the subsequent cereals is highly variable due to the effects of agro-ecologies, the status of the soil fertility, type and variety of the crop, and plant management options [18].…”

From targeting to tailoring : baskets of options for legume cultivation among African smallholders

“…As this study shows, however, there is also considerable variability within agro-ecological zones, e.g. related to differences in resource endowment and gender of the farmer (Franke et al, 2016), or soil fertility and management history (Tittonell et al, 2005b;Zingore et al, 2011). We measured a number of agronomic parameters (planting and weeding dates, number of weedings) to explain this variability, but the difficulty with such parameters is that they cannot be predicted among new groups of farmers.…”