Jonathan Muriuki and the evergreen team ICRAF, Nairobi and partners

MAKING AGRICULTURE IN EAST AFRICA ‘EVERGREEN’ FOR IMPROVED LIVELIHOODS

AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE

Synopsis

§ The regional context

§ The evergreen agriculture idea

§ Some observations from farmer practices

§ Action research towards scaling up

HUMID HIGHLANDS High Pop. Density (Home to > 50 % of region’s pop) Supply > 50 % of regions staple & cash crops Important water towers Rainfed & irrigated agriculture Major crops: Maize, potato, banana, wheat, coffee, tea, arrow roots

DRYLANDS 81 % of total land mass Significant in Kenya (75 %); Tanzania & Ethiopia (50 %) Pastoralism / Agro-pastoralism Irrigated and rainfed agriculture Major crops: Sorghum, millet & cassava, cotton

Eastern Africa Main features

Conventional Farming – This is how we produce food

Trees are kept off cropland and soil is turned over leading to :- -  Disruption of soil life -  High surface area for moisture loss

Intensive Tillage destroys the biological and ecological integrity of the soil system.

Before Primary Tillage

After Primary Tillage

After Secondary Tillage

“Earthworms are allergic to cold steel!” Credit: Mike Bell 15 July, 2003 and Pascal Kaumbutho - KENDAT

Our high potential land is sloppy and vulnerable!

Conventional farming on sloppy lands without conservation leads to •  Huge soil losses due to run-off •  Quick degradation •  Landslides and floods especially due to lack of tree roots

81% of the land is semi-arid and cycles of floods and droughts together with overgrazing leads to massive degradation

Genesis of Conservation Agriculture With Trees Call by the Conference of

African Union (AU) Ministers of Agriculture, Land and Livestock in 2009 call upon Member States to:

Ø Increase investment support in strengthening knowledge, advancing technical capacity development, and up-scaling sustainable land management practices including conservation agriculture and agroforestry.

Types of Agroforestry

1.  Agroforests: combinations of perennial species on arable land

2.  Home gardens with perennials 3.  Woodlots or farm forests 4.  Sylvopastoral systems: Trees in pastures 5.  Trees on field and farm boundaries 6.  Evergreen Agriculture: Trees intercropped with

field crops

What is Evergreen Agriculture? A form of more

intensive farming that integrates trees with annual crops, maintaining a green cover on the land throughout the year.

Evergreen farming

systems are ‘double- story’ systems that feature both perennial and annual species (food crops and trees).

Trees incorporation into crop fields and agricultural landscapes may contribute to:

i.  maintaining vegetative soil cover year-round (Boffa,1999), ii.  bolstering nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling

(Barnes and Fagg, 2003), iii.  enhanced suppression of insect pests and weeds (Sileshi et al. 2006), iv.  improved soil structure and water infiltration (Chirwa et al. 2007), v.  greater direct production of food, fodder, fuel, fiber and income from

products produced by the intercropped trees (Garrity, 2004), vi.  enhanced carbon storage both above-ground and belowground

(Makumba et al. 2007), vii.  greater quantities of organic matter in soil surface residues (Akinnifesi

et al. 2007), and viii.  more effective conservation of above- and belowground biodiversity

(Scherr and McNeeley, 2009).

Some examples of Evergreen Agriculture in EA •  Fodder shrubs for balanced dairy nutrition (eg

Calliandra in the East African Dairy Project) •  Mango and other fruits intercropped in maize systems •  Grevillea robusta intercropped in maize for timber,

fodder & fuel •  Faidherbia albida in maize production systems (CA

being tested) •  Intercropped coppicing leguminous trees in maize (eg

Gliricidia in Malawi tested in Western Kenya and KIbwezi)

•  Relay-cropped leguminous species managed as annual green manure (eg Tephrosia)

More people more trees

Drier areas have more indigenous tree species

1.  Minimum  soil  disturbance.  The  roots  of  tree/shrub  species  and  the  soil  fauna  take  over  the  tillage  function,  soil  nutrient  mobilization  and  balancing  

2.  Adequate  soil  cover.  The  trees  add  biomass,  which  protects  the  soil  and  feeds  the  soil  biota  (i.e.  biological  plough).  This  also  ensures  better  carbon  storage  than  CA  alone  

3.  Trees  in  the  rotation/  intercrop  reduce  weeds,  insect  pests  and  diseases;  Thus  increasing  savings  from  inputs  such  as  fertilizer  and  herbicides  

When integrated with CA, trees ensure

System characterisation with AKT - Machakos

System characterisation with AKT - Mbarali

Most frequent tree species by agro-ecological zones in Machakos, Bugesera and Mbarali

Zone     Machakos   Bugesera   Mbarali  L o w altitude  

1   Mangifera indica   Senna spectabilis   Faidherbia albida  2   Senna siamea   Eucalyptus spp   Mbadaga  3   Grevillea robusta   Grewia similis   Acacia tortilis  4   Terminalia brownii   Grevillea robusta   Delonix regia  5   Citrus sinensis   Persea americana   Mangifera indica  

M i d altitude  

1   Eucalyptus camaldulensis  

Grevillea robusta   Faidherbia albida  2   Grevillea robusta   Senna spectabilis   Mangifera Indica  3   Persea americana   Persea americana   Acacia tortilis  4   Mangifera indica   Mangifera indica   Senna spectabilis  5   Croton megalocarpus   Eucalyptus spp   Delonix regia  

H i g h altitude  

1   Grevillea robusta   Grevillea robusta    2   Mangifera indica   Mangifera indica    3   Persea americana   Persea americana    4   Eucalyptus

camaldulensis  Eucalyptus spp    

5   Croton megalocarpus   Citrus limon    

Species accumulation curves 90 farms surveyed in Machakos County

There are more indigenous species in the community but far exceed by the exotic species in numbers

Farmers views on various species in their farms Market value categories   Botanical name   common niches   Leaf mulch/ fertility

value  Crop conditions under the canopy  

High value/ commonly

sold  

Mangifera indica   Field (terraces)   slow decomposer   unhealthy appearance and reduction in yield  

Persea americana   field (terraces)   not known   unhealthy appearance and reduction in yield  

Eucalyptus camaldulensis  

field boundaries   harmful to the soil   unhealthy appearance and reduction in yield  

Medium value  

Grevillea robusta   field boundaries/ home compound  

mulch value (high moisture content)  

healthy appearance no reduction in yield  

Terminalia brownii   field boundaries   conflicting opinions   reduction in yield - can be improved with pruning  

Carica papaya   field (terraces)   fast decomposer   healthy appearance no reduction in yield  

Citrus limon   field (terraces)   slow decomposer   reduction in yield  Citrus sinensis   field (terraces)   slow decomposer   reduction in yield for maize,

legumes have no reduction in yield  

Can be sold  

Psidium guajava   field (terraces)   slow decomposer   unhealthy appearance and reduction in yield  

Syzygium guineense  

field boundaries/ home compound  

  reduction in yield - can be improved with pruning  

Acacia nilotica   field boundaries/ grazing field  

fast decomposer   healthy appearance no reduction in yield  

Balanites aegyptiaca  

field boundaries/ grazing field  

fast decomposer   healthy appearance no reduction in yield  

Acacia xanthophloea  

field boundaries/ grazing field  

fast decomposer   healthy appearance no reduction in yield  

Priority high value fruit tree species selected for Kenya and Tanzania by various authors Source   Kenya

 Tanzania  

Teklehaimanot (2007)          

1.Vitex payos  

1.Sclerocarya birrea  

2.Berchemia discolor   2.Strychnos cocculoides  3.Balanites aegyptiaca   3.Parinari curatellifolia  4.Carrisa edulis   4 . V a n g u e r i a

madagascariensis  5.Sclerocarya birrea  

5.Balanites aegyptiaca  

Chikamai et al (2005)  

1.Tamarindus indica  

1.Parinari curatellifolia  

2.Adansonia digitata   2.Strychnos cocculoides  3.Balanites aegyptiaca   3.Uapaka kirkiana  4.Berchemia discolour   4.Vitex mombassae  5.Ziziphus mauritiana  

5.Vitex doniana   Maghembe et al (1998)      

  1.Strychnos cocculoides  

  2.Uapaca kirikiana     3.Vitex mombassae     4.Parinari curatellifolia     5.Tamarindus indica  

Demand and Supply trends of tree seedlings from nurseries in Machakos (bars

represent % responses)

Purchase of seedlings is not very common in Rwanda (85%), Meru (35%) and Machakos and farmers reported that nurseries were far away from their farms

For successful scaling up, an Evergreen agriculture programme needs

Tree management spacing, niches,

CA, tree crop interactions, etc

Right species, Seeds, and

seedling systems

Favorable policies, extension networks,

capacity building at all levels , linking markets

Germplasm Practices

Enabling environment

Knowledge to Action with further research

(Rural resource centers)

Characterization of

typologies

Support for national scaling up programmes

Approaches for germplasm supply •  Rural resource

centres •  Satelite nurseries

and demonstrations in schools – healthy learning approach

•  Group nurseries •  Individually

operated nurseries (pseudo-extension)

•  FMNR approaches

Rural resource centres and satellites

Mbarali Rural Resource Centre, Tanzania

Kangundo Satellite school nursery, Kenya

Technology hubs - Infrastructure for transferring technologies (agroforestry, tree domestication) to a high number of farmers, particularly in the countries where the extension services are weak – technology demonstrations and germplasm sources

Capacity building approaches To build the capacity i.e. ü competence, ü confidence and ü commitment

of farmers to invest in evergreen agriculture through

Ø Farmer training Ø Demonstration plots and Ø Linking to markets

Extension approaches - Competence

•  Government as the default and most sustainable – ministry of agriculture (not forestry?)

•  NGOs network – KENDAT, World Vision, others in Tanzania

•  Volunteer farmers and nursery operators

•  Approaches – Landcare, rural resource centres, satelite nurseries (with healthy learning), farmer field schools

•  Demonstration plots

Capacity building - Demonstrations and participatory trials - competence

•  At rural resource centres, satellite nurseries, ATCs

•  At least one per demonstration per intervention village

•  Also serve as participatory on-farm trials to test acceptance of technology

•  High replication to allow biophysical measurements with sufficient precision

Linking farmers to markets and value chains – commitment and confidence

The Farmer (producer

competence)

Crop yields Tree products

Livestock products

The input chain (confidence)

•  Seeds •  Implements •  Tree

seedlings •  Animal feeds •  Chemicals

The markets (commitment)

And markets are moving so enterprise rotation matters!!!

What have we learned from the impacts already achieved, and about the key farmer incentives for adoption? 1.  Trees in conservation farming increase system

resilience especially the spread of the growing season – indigenous species have a key role

2.  There are multiple benefits and repercussions on crop productivity, household nutrition, fodder production, fuelwood/energy availability, income source, and systems sustainability.

3.  Scaling-up models will differ across agro-ecological zones and countries

4.  Farmers opinion is important as they are the managers of their farms and know them best

5.  Farmers listen to other farmers more easily as they share visible experiences – involve them in extension approaches

THANKS

Creating an Evergreen Agriculture