Competing uses, dynamics, and production and utilization constraints of crop residues in East Africa: Implications for conservation agriculture

Competing uses, dynamics, and production and utilization constraints of crop residues in East Africa: Implications for conservation agriculture 1 Kindu Mekonnen, 2 Gedion Rachier, 3 Dagnachew Lule, 4 Mesfin Bahta, 1 Diego Valbuena, 1 Alan Duncan and 1 Bruno Gerard International Congress on Water 2011: Integrated Water Resources Management in Tropical and Subtropical Drylands , Mekelle, Ethiopia, 19-26 September 2011 1 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia . 2 Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), P.O. Box 169, Kakamega, Kenya 3 Bako Agricultural Research Center (BARC), P.O. Box 03, Bako, Ethiopia 4 Sirinka Agricultural Research Center (SARC), P.O. Box 74, Woldia, Ethiopia

Contents of the presentation
Introduction
Objectives of the study
Research methodologies
Research findings and discussion
Crops and crop residues
Cropping technologies
Competing uses of crop residues
Trend analysis on the use of crop residues
Production constraints of crop residues
Utilization constraints of crop residues
Implications of the present CR utilization for CA
Conclusions

Introduction
Crop residue production in the world - 3.8 billion Mg – cereals (74%), legumes (8%), oil crops (3%), sugar crops (10%) and tubers (5%) (Lal, 2005).
CRs have off-site/ product functions (feed) and on-site/
service functions (SWC).
CRs off-site uses CRs on-site uses

The use of CRs for CA is challenged in the east African countries due to:
Studies on competing uses and other aspects of
CRs are key for managing the available resources,
searching more options and initiating more detailed
research.
poor capacity of smallholder farmers to purchase/access various inputs and services.
lack of availability of alternatives for various competing uses of CRs.

investigate diversified and competing uses of crop residues
Objectives 2) analyze past trends of uses of crop residues 3) identify production and utilization constraints for crop residues

3. Research methodologies
Three sites were identified in two east African countries (Ethiopia and Kenya).

Selected 8 villages in each of the three sites
based on market and road access:
Near-Near, Near-Far, Far-Near and Far-Far
Identified 10-20 farmers in each village to
respond as a group during the final village
survey.
Considered a total of 24 villages in the three
sites.

Characteristics of the three sites
Kobo Nekemte Kakamega Altitude 1416-1634 1748-2418 1426-1719 Major soil types Vertisol Nitisol Acrisols, Ferralsols Mean annual rainfall (mm) 768 1037 2009 Mean annual temp ( o C) 30 29 28 Total village population 330-2250 196-391 400-5000 Total village HHs 66-450 35-70 80-1200 Total village land (ha) 77-910 74-164 200-900 Total cultivated land (ha) 66-280 61-149 160-810 Major crops sorghum, teff maize, teff maize, beans TLU 141-1004 69-213 121-673

3. Research findings and discussion 3.1. Crops and crop residues Sorghum- Kobo Teff- Nekemte Beans- Kakamega Crop types Kobo Nekemte Kakamega cereals teff, sorghum, maize maize, teff, sorghum, finger millet, wheat, barley, oat maize, finger millet, sorghum legumes chickpeas faba beans, field peas, soya beans common beans, climbing beans and soya beans oil crops nd noug bambara nuts, ground nuts hort. crops vegetables (onion) vegetables (beet root, potato, anchote) vegetables (sweet potato), cassava, banana, tea, sugarcane

Sorghum stover Teff straw Maize stover Crop residues Kobo Nekemte Kakamega cereals teff straw, sorghum stover, maize stover teff straw, maize stover, barley straw, wheat straw, finger millet straw maize stover, maize cobs, finger millet straw legumes chickpea haulms and husks faba bean haulms and husks common and climbing beans oil crops nd nd groundnut haulms, hort. crops nd nd sugarcane tops, sweet potato vines, banana stems and leaves, vegetable stalks

Area coverage of crops and hh growing them in the main rainy season at the three east African sites. Note: nd-there is no data, and np- there is no practice Cropping systems Land allocated (ha) Area coverage (%) HHs growing (%) Kobo cereals 963 97 75 legumes 19 2 37 oil crops nd nd nd hort. crops 5 1 8 fallow np np np Nekemte cereals 581 74 78 legumes 13 2 46 oil crops 54 7 59 hort. crops 24 3 85 fallow 107 14 71 Kakamega cereals 1238 31 53 legumes 859 22 89 oil crops nd nd nd hort. crops 1776 44 75 fallow 133 3 nd

3.2. Cropping technologies Area (%) Kobo Nekemte Kakamega tillage by tractor 6.43 (11.4) np 14.4 (17.7) tillage by animal 99.5 (1.4) 100.0 (0.0) 63.8 (28.9) new seed 2009 25.2 (36.5) 28.3 (32.0) 89.4 (4.2) chemical fertilizer 1.8 (2.9) 72.8 (19.4) 78.8 (13.8) manure application 9.3 (14.1) 22.3 (26.0) 54.4 (28.2) hand weeding 100.0 (0.0) 97.9 (6.0) 97.8 (3.5) herbicide application 34.1 (26.8) 51.1 (29.4) 2.8 (4.0) pesticide application 25.3 (38.4) 39.5 (33.0) 4.1 (3.2) thresher use np 4.0 (0.0) 1.0 (0.0) chopper use for feed np np 2.3 (2.3) Data represent means with standard deviations in parentheses. The number of villages (n) is 8 for each of the three east African sites.

3.3. Competing uses of crop residues 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Kobo Nekemte Kakamega other uses households fuel stall feeding sell from home and field grazing by animals left as mulch

Bars above the lines indicate increase in the last 10 years while bars below graphs indicate decreases.
3.4. Trend analysis on the use of crop residues
fuel

Bars above the lines indicate increase in the last 10 years while bars below graphs indicate decreases.
3.4. Trend analysis on the use of crop residues

3.5. Production constraints of crop residues
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Kobo Nekemte Kakamega soil fertility decline high inputs/low outputs price and inputs unavailability lack of information/services problem of weeds, pests and diseases rainfall/drought problem

3.6. Utilization constraints of crop residues
About 60 % of the ruminant livestock in Kobo, 20 % in
Nekemte and 25 % in Kakamega are dependent on CR.
The stem part of some plants is hard and highly lignified.
As a result, animals prefer the finer parts and thus causing
significant losses of the residues.
Lack of information and
access about various CR
processing methods are
major bottlenecks for
efficient utilization of CRs.

3.7. Implications of the present CR utilization for CA
The soil in crop fields suffers a lack of permanent cover
due competing uses of CRs.
Perennial crops are less integrated into the crop fields to
avoid competition for space.
29 % of CRs in Kakamega
retained on the soil surface
to enhance and maintain
soil quality.
Nearly 100% of CRs in the Eth sites are removed from the
crop fields and allocated for product functions.

Possible options to balance competing uses of CRs:
Implement integrated farming approaches – helps to save
more CRs for covering the soil and improving its fertility.
Producing enough biomass- use of cropping technologies
(irrigation, improved crop varieties) and intensive farming.
Introducing compatible and high value perennial crops in
croplands so as to improve the year round soil cover.
Enhance the knowledge of farmers on the management
and efficient use of CRs-capacity building schemes .

5. Conclusions
CRs are very useful crop by-products for smallholder
farmers. Their use for animal feed surpassed the other
competing uses in all the sites.
S oil/land related problems; weed, insect and pests; high
input/low output prices; poor distribution of rainfall/drought;
and lack of information/services are some of the constraints
associated with low crop productivity and production of CRs.
Dealing with some of the crop and CRs production
constraints to enhance overall crop productivity could
provide more scope for the use of CRs for CA purposes.

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Competing uses, dynamics, and production and utilization constraints of crop residues in East Africa: Implications for conservation agriculture

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Competing uses, dynamics, and production and utilization constraints of crop residues in East Africa: Implications for conservation agriculture Presentation Transcript

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