Sustainable intensification of groundnut production in northern Ghana
Abdul Rahman Nurudeen1, Larbi Asamoah2, Kizito Fred1, Kotu Bekele1, Hoeschle-Zeledon Irmgard3
1International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) - Tamale, Ghana, 2Agricultural Research and Development Group – Tamale, Ghana,
3International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) - Ibadan, Nigeria
Key messages
o Achievable yield of groundnut is < 50% of its potential in Ghana (MoFA,
2017).
o Poor agronomic practices, especially low plant density and soil fertility
management are among the major causes of the yield gap between the
achieved and potential yields.
o Previous groundnut plant density studies focused on only productivity.
o Adoption of optimum plant density that improves yield and subsequently
income and nutrition while conserving the natural resource base can
sustainably intensify groundnut production in northern Ghana.
We thank farmers and local partners in Africa RISING sites for their contributions to this research. We also acknowledge the
support of all donors which globally support the work of the CGIAR centers and their partners through their contributions
to the CGIAR system
Figure 1. Assessment of four groundnut spacing from
TPs trials using the SIAF.
Figure 2. Farmers assessment of 30 x 15 cm2
groundnut spacing relative to the traditional method
using SIAF.
Conclusion
o Based on the results from both studies, planting groundnut at a
spacing of 30 x 15 cm2 will sustainably intensify groundnut
production in northern Ghana.
o Application of the SIAF for future agronomic and survey studies on
sustainable intensification of agricultural technology is
recommended.
Objective
To establish optimum plant density for Sustainable Intensification of
groundnut production in northern Ghana using the Sustainable Intensification
Assessment Framework (SIAF) of Musumba et al., 2017.
Approach
o Researcher and farmer managed trials were set up in Community-based
Technology Parks (TPs) which also served as demonstrational fields for
farmers to learn good agronomic practices.
o Four groundnut spacings (30 x 15, 45 x 15, 60 x 15 and 75 x 15 cm2) were
evaluated with six improved groundnut varieties in split plot design.
o A farmer participatory survey was conducted during community field
days with farmers who practiced the technology on 1 acre upscaling
fields.
o Data collected from the TPs trials and farmer perception survey covered
the five Sustainable Intensification domains (Table 1).
o The SIAF involves measuring of indicators, transforming the indicators
into scores and aggregating the scores under each of the five SI domains.
Key results
o Planting groundnut at a spacing of 30 x 15 cm2 scored higher
productivity, economic, environment, human and social domain than
the other spacings under both TPs trials (Fig. 1) and farmer perception
survey (Fig. 2).
o The TPs data were positively correlated with both male (r= 0.66; P=
0.0077) and female (r= 0.67; P= 0.0063) farmer perception data.
Photo 1: Female and male farmers assessing the effect of plant spacing on six improved groundnut varieties
during community field day at Goriyiri in Upper West Region of Ghana. Photo by Dr. Fred Kizito (IITA).
Experiences with data collection and application of SIAF
o Selecting and measuring indicators under human and social domain for
TPs trials were a bit challenging.
o Applying the SIAF to the survey data was easier compared with the TPs
data.
Indicator
SI domain Technology Park Survey
Productivity Grain and fodder yields Grain and fodder yields
Economic Net income and BCR Profit and labor requirement
Environment
Vegetative cover (30, 40,
50, 60 DAP and, harvest)
Soil fertility and moisture
conservation
Human Food and Protein Nutrition and food security
Social
Technology rating by
gender
Labor sharing and resources
management
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Producitivity
Economic
EnvironmentHuman
Social
a. Northern Male
Female
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Producitivity
Economic
EnvironmentHuman
Social
b. Upper East
Male
Female
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Producitivity
Economic
EnvironmentHuman
Social
c. Upper West
Male
Female
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Productivity
Economic
EnvironmentHuman
Social
a. Northern 30 x 15
45 x 15
60 x 15
75 x 15
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Productivity
Economic
EnvirionmentHuman
Social
b. Upper East 30 x 15
45 x 15
60 x 15
75 x 15
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Productivity
Economic
EnvironmentHuman
Social
c. Upper West 30 x 15
45 x 15
60 x 15
75 x 15
This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
January 2019
Table 1. Sustainable Intensification (SI) domains with measured indicators
NB: Male and female farmers scores for Upper West overlap
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