Abstract: Land degradation is a global, ongoing and relentless problem diminishing the functions and services provided by land resources. The problem is most serious in tropical regions, high in population density and mainly dependent on subsistence agriculture. Ethiopia can be viewed as a vivid example of countries in these regions most affected by land degradation. Although its extent varies, the problem is widespread in all regions of the country. The highlands, originally endowed with ab...
Abstract: Agricultural practices of smallholders with low external and internal inputs fluxes cause the risk of depleting soil nutrient stocks, seriously threatening future agricultural production potentials in Ethiopia. To curb soil fertility depletion in these areas, it needs quantification of fluxes that are responsible for nutrient import into and export out of the farming system. The objective of this study was to quantify nutrient fluxes, pools and NPK balances at farm and field scales...
Abstract: Building climate-resilient farming systems is important to promote the sustainability of agriculture at the global level. Scaling-up agroecological approaches in main staple crops, such as maize, is particularly important in enhancing the climate resilience of millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries. In this regard, push–pull technology (PPT) is an ecological approach to a farming system that aims to improve the climate resilience of maize producers in a smallhold...
ABSTRACT Over the years, numerous intervention approaches have been launched to promote improved technologies in order to attain sustainable development. However, extension approaches, which have been the dominant rural development strategy, have been slow in transforming agriculture resulting from low adoption rate of SWC technologies that were aggressively promoted through extension programmes. Thus, this study examines the adoption and sustainability of soil conservation practices looking...
ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to examine the level of technical efficiency of smallholder pearl millet producers and identify its determinants in the semi-arid farming system of Dodoma, Tanzania. A Translog stochastic production function model was used in the analysis. To specify technical inefficiency effects of socioeconomic variables, Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) technique using cross sectional data collected from 300 randomly selected sample farmers in 2016 was applied....
EXTENDED ABSTRACT The crop-livestock farming system is a traditional and main agricultural practice in the eastern part of Ethiopia, where crop grains are produced for food security and residues are for animal feed and domestic fuel consumption. As a result, farmers practice crop residues removal management throughout the cropping seasons. However, there is no adequate information on the impacts of crop residues removal management on soil properties and crop yields under such farming system. ...
BSTRACT Soil erosion by water is a growing problem in Tanzania particularly in mountainous areas. The control of soil erosion is one of the most significant issues, which results in improving crop production as well as smallholders income. A study was carried out to assess hillside ditches performance in controlling soil erosion in a banana-maize farming system in Kiroka Village, Morogoro, Tanzania. The study intended to characterize the soils, determine soil loss and assess the social econom...
ABSTRACT Climate variability and change pose serious challenges to smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists. Nonetheless, their trends and impacts on rain-fed farming system (RFFS) in semi-arid areas of Tanzania have not sufficiently been explored. This study was conducted in Iramba and Meatu districts to contribute to this knowledge gap. The study specifically (i) assessed meteorological data trends of rainfall and temperature between 1994 and 2011; (ii) determined farmers’ perception of ...
Abstract – The aim of this paper is to examine the perceptions of small-scale irrigation farmers (SSIFs) with regard to climate change and their adaptation strategies in terms of its effects. This study forms part of a broader regional project, namely the Southern Agricultural Africa Inter-Comparison and Improvement Project (SAAMIIP) on integrated regional climate assessment. In analysing the SSIF farm situation, meta-analysis was the selected methodological application. Farm-level data wa...
ABSTRACT Water conservation and food security are some of the problems facing developing countries. The challenges of water conservation could be tackled by adopting the drip irrigation method. The drip irrigation system is an irrigation system that involves the artificial application of water to the base or root zone of plants in a controlled slow frequent and steady manner. This study was developed drip irrigation system for rural farmer on a small sale plot of an area of 7m X 5m with a wa...
Abstract: This study examines the farm-level economic benefits and aggregate welfare impacts of adopting push–pull technology (PPT)—an innovative, integrated pest and soil-fertility management strategy—with a set of household- and plot-level data collected in western Kenya. The evaluation is based on a combination of econometric and economic surplus analysis. Treatment effect estimates are used to assess the technology-induced shift in the maize supply curve, which is then used as an i...
Abstract Management practices such as tillage, crop rotation, irrigation, organic and inorganic inputs application are known to influence diversity and function of soil microbial populations. In this study, we investigated the effect of conventional versus organic farming systems at low and high input levels on structure and diversity of prokaryotic microbial communities. Soil samples were collected from the ongoing long-term farming system comparison trials established in 2007 at Chuka and ...
Abstract Microbial diversity and function in agro-ecosystems is influenced by various aspects linked to soil and agronomic practices for example, tillage, irrigation, crop rotation and application of organic and inorganic inputs. Farming systems practices may affect the dynamic interactions existing between soil, plant and microorganisms in different agricultural biomes. Due to limitations associated with conventional microbial cultivation strategies, only a fractional number of cultivable s...
Abstract: Agriculture is the main focus of Ethiopia's economic development. Wheat is one of the major cereal crops produced by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Wheat demand is rising quickly in Ethiopia despite efforts to improve wheat production. Recently, to curb this problem, the government of Ethiopia has implemented a cluster farming system for high-potential agricultural commodities like wheat as a means of poverty reduction and smallholders’ income maximization. In light of the prob...
Abstract: Despite their important ecological roles for soil health and soil fertility, free-living nematodes (FLN) have received relatively limited research attention. The present study evaluated the community structure and diversity of FLN in a field setting. The experiments were conducted in on-farm and on-station field plots sown to maize (Zea mays) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) under four cropping practices. These farming systems included organic (compost and biopesticide use), conventi...