Productivity of intercropping with maize and common bean over five cropping seasons on smallholder farms of Tanzania

Nassary, Eliakira Kisetu; Baijukya, Frederick P.; Ndakidemi, Patrick A.

doi:10.1016/j.eja.2019.125964

Cited by 54 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Kilimanjaro. Rainfall is bimodal, including a long rainy season, which starts in March and ends in June, and a short rainy season, which starts in October and ends in December [16,22,43].…”

Section: Description Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and receives an annual rainfall of 500-1250 mm [16]. In the area, the cropping systems and the AEZs still interact closely in terms of nutrients movement and run-off, and the soils are generally poor in fertility [16,22]. Rotational cultivations of cereals with grain legumes and/or cereals with the intercrops of cereals and grain legumes are important in contributing to the maintenance of soil health and N nutrition, as well as breaking the cycles of reducing factors, including insect pests, weeds, and diseases [18].…”

Section: Description Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Description Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Germination tests for both bean and maize seeds were above 98%; so, two seeds were sown per hole and thinned to one seedling at 14 days after sowing, and the densities are as presented in Table 1. Fertilizer dozes were applied such that at sowing, triple superphosphate (TSP, 46% P 2 O 5 ) was applied in each planting hole at a rate of 25 kg P ha −1 based on the initial soil tests [22]. Further, fertilizer urea (46% N) was applied at a rate of 120 kg N ha −1 to each maize plant 21 days after sowing [22,43].…”

Section: Sowing Spacing and Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2020

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Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important grain legume for food and cash of the smallholder farmers worldwide. However, the total potential benefits to be derived from the common bean as a source of food and income, its complementarities with non-legume food crops, and significance to the environment are underexploited. Intensification of common bean could provide approaches that offer new techniques to better manage and monitor globally complex systems of sustainable food production. Therefore, this study tried to assess the productivity of common bean bushy varieties when are involved as part of an intercrop with maize (Zea mays L.) in varying agro-ecological zones. The factors evaluated were the cropping seasons/years (S) (2015 and 2016), agro-ecological zones (A) above sea level (lower 843 m, middle 1051 m, upper 1743 m), and cropping systems (C) (sole, intercrop). The data collected were the total biomass, number of pods per plant and seeds per pod, 100-seed weight as yield components, and grain yield. Bean and maize grain yields were used to calculate the partial (P) and total land equivalent ratio (LER). Results indicated that the main effects of S, A, C, and the interaction effects of S × A, S × C, S × A × C were significant on bean grain yields. Interactions of S × A × C were also significant on all measured variables. Results also indicated that continuous intercropping of bean with maize over two cropping seasons resulted in the increase of bean grain yields from 1.5 to 2.3 t ha −1 in the lower altitude, 2.0 to 2.3 t ha −1 in the middle altitude, and 1.8 to 2.9 t ha −1 in the upper altitude. Land utilization advantage of intercrops over monocultures yielded a total LER of 1.58, whereas the average partial land equivalent ratio (PLER) of individual beans was 1.53.

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“…Kilimanjaro. Rainfall is bimodal, including a long rainy season, which starts in March and ends in June, and a short rainy season, which starts in October and ends in December [16,22,43].…”

Section: Description Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Description Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Description Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sowing Spacing and Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2020

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Vermicompost and bactericide application minimized common bacterial blight development and enhanced nodulation and agronomic performances of bean varieties in Southern Ethiopia

Terefe,

Mengesha,

Abera

et al. 2024

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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Common bacterial blight (CBB) is an economically important disease that results in quantitative and qualitative yield reductions across the world. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the integration of host resistance, vermicompost (VC) seed soaking, and bactericide foliar application against CBB development, nodulation, and agronomic performances of common bean varieties in southern Ethiopia in 2021 and 2022. Two bean varieties (Remeda [moderately resistant] and Awash‐01 [susceptible]), VC (soaking and non‐soaking), and bactericide spraying (unsprayed, 7‐, 14‐, and 21‐day intervals) were regarded as treatments and factorially arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The combined analysis of variance over years revealed significant (p < 0.05) variations in disease severity, area under disease progress curve (AUDPC), nodule, and agronomic parameters between varieties, VC, bactericide spray intervals, and the interaction of the three factors. Seed soaking with VC and three times foliar bactericide application at the 7‐day interval recorded the lowest terminal disease severity (21.30%) and AUDPC (791.67%‐days) and the highest grain yield (4128.80 kg ha−1), nodule, and other agronomic traits for the variety Remeda over the other treatments. Moreover, the same treatment also obtained the highest net benefit of $2729.88 ha−1 and marginal rate of return of 15.94 over untreated plots of the variety Remeda. Similar trends were observed for the variety Awash‐01. Therefore, the findings indicate that the integration of VC seed soaking, thrice application of bactericide at the 7‐day interval along with the variety Remeda can be employed to curtail the effects of CBB and optimize nodulation and agronomic performances of the crop and is recommended for growers in the study areas.

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Nourishing the farms, nourishing the plates: Association of climate‐smart agricultural practices with household dietary diversity and food security in smallholders

Santalucia,

Sibhatu

2023

Agribusiness

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Climate‐smart agricultural (CSA) practices are increasingly being promoted as nature‐based solutions to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farm households amid a sharp increase in climate‐change anomalies. However, the extent to which CSA practices contribute to smallholder food security and dietary diversity remains unclear. In this study, we use panel and nationally representative data from Tanzania to examine the association between two climate‐smart agricultural practices, namely, improved maize varieties and maize‐legume intercropping, and food security in smallholder farm households. We use maize yield per acre, adult‐equivalent food expenditure, and household dietary diversity scores to measure household food security, representing three of the four food security pillars: availability, access, and utilization. We also examine the complementarity and potential advantages of combining improved maize seeds with fertilizers. Using standard panel data estimation approaches, we find a positive association between the adoption of improved maize varieties and maize‐legume intercropping and an increase in food production measured through higher crop productivity. However, we do not find a corresponding improvement in household dietary diversity or increased food expenditure, despite the higher crop production. Several factors might explain this outcome, including the challenges faced by farmers in accessing markets to sell surplus produce, the influence of established dietary habits, gender issues, and other local factors that promote the consumption of cereal‐based foods such as maize. Our findings suggest that CSA practices may help improve food production and availability, but more effort is needed to translate increased food production into improved dietary diversity and better food security among smallholder farmers in sub‐Saharan Africa. [EconLit Citations: C23, D12, D13, D24, Q12, Q16, Q18, Q54].

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Productivity of intercropping with maize and common bean over five cropping seasons on smallholder farms of Tanzania

Cited by 54 publications

References 32 publications

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

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

Vermicompost and bactericide application minimized common bacterial blight development and enhanced nodulation and agronomic performances of bean varieties in Southern Ethiopia

Nourishing the farms, nourishing the plates: Association of climate‐smart agricultural practices with household dietary diversity and food security in smallholders

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